No worries. Being a player in an online game is generally more about patience/consistency than frequency.
I've gotten some of the basics for my character down, I'm still fleshing out the backstory and the cohort will wait quite some time.
I'm imagining Lady Kyra as something of a wild card (being I think the only true Neutral character here) she's not particularly sympathetic for reforming Taldor for altruistic purposes like Lex, but she also acknowledges something needs to change. I'm still trying to think up some of her more deeper motivations but I wanted to find something to separate her from the "Reform Taldor!" crowd and give her a bit of uniqueness. She knows she'll never inherit her estate with two people ahead of her so she doesn't much care about Taldor's biased inheritance laws, though she dislikes how woman are often put into arranged marriages. She saw Bardic college as a way to avoid that for awhile, and also fulfill her fancy for swordplay.
I really wanted to take a level in Lion Blade PrC just for the story bit, but that class just sucks and I couldn't justify it. So Kyra has instead been approached (how would a Bard of her caliber not be?) for recruitment but she declined. She was recently given her cousin (the magus) as a personal guard after Cyrus died, by her father. Although she's been given free reign over some/most of the family estates because her oldest brother is a ponce who hates work and her younger older brother is too busy with Eutropia.
By the way, full permission from me to use Gavrill Rubicon as an obstructive bureaucrat/villain for the party. Even gave you a plot hook and everything.
I was also wondering if maybe instead of a Magus my cohort should be a Wizard/Eldritch Knight? That way her could get high level spells.
Are PrC class levels required to be a member in an organization? You've got the bardic stuff, the alignment, goals, the improved initiative, pretty much everything necessary to be a Lion Blade, including the bard college education. Maybe Kyra was recruited to be a Blade, but her parents/level of public image wouldn't let her attend a Shadow School (a year of college in the SEWERS?). Even if she's not a fully-trained Blade, she's just as powerful of any of them, and could probably be an honorary society member if she wanted to (in the same way I'm assuming Lord Rook is an honorary member of the Sovereign Court Pathfinder faction).
While you may not be the heir to the big estate, the starting wealth means that even the small piece you've inherited is huge and rich, and maybe your family's just that important.
If it strikes your fancy, bards also make great enchanters or conjurers, if you pick one school you like and put a few points into it, which gives you (with spontaneous still/silent spells) a neat way to supplement your diplomacy with "something extra".
Also, 10 Int/8 Wis/26 Cha is a hilarious spread—you're no better at remembering books and facts than the average city commoner, lacking in common sense, with such a fantastically beautiful voice that anyone who hears you speak forgets to notice anything else.
EDIT: If you're looking for equipment for a bard, a lesser persistent metamagic rod is so cheap you can afford a bunch, and many of a bard's best save-or-"die" spells are level 3 or lower (Hideous Laughter, Glitterdust, Charm Person/Monster, Cacophonous Call, Hold Person, Whip of Spiders, Confusion). Maybe also a higher-level rod if you're a fan of Dominate Person/Hold Monster etc.
* * *
Meanwhile, any thoughts on who's gathered the group in the first place? Or the GM has something in mind for this, I'm not sure. There's also a decent chance that we're all distantly related by marriage, because that's how historical nobility works.
Wizard/Eldritch would be perfectly fine. It is your cohort, afterall, and I take my lead of your family from what you tell me.
I appreciate you allowing me to use Gavrill, and will likely be using any and all potential obstacles for you guys!
I like that she turned down the Lion Blade (Yes, the class does super-suck!)
Mayhaps a lady who'd like to see a bit more gender equality in the Empire? Even if it's not specifically about the inheritance laws?
Also, 10 Int/8 Wis/26 Cha is a hilarious spread—you're no better at remembering books and facts than the average city commoner, lacking in common sense, with such a fantastically beautiful voice that anyone who hears you speak forgets to notice anything else.
I rofl'd!
Just saying... She's got a fantastic "Pecho"-nality!
Were we're starting is that you are all attending a soiree held by the Grand Princess.
Hmm, just looked through the Bard spell list, and now I'm curious whether Whip of Spiders works with augment summon or some other way of boosting its save DCs, since my summoner would love that.
But I digress (spiders are probably not very ladylike, unless it's a house sigil). Bards can buy rings/pages of spell knowledge to cheaply expand spell lists, which are awesome.
Also, 10 Int/8 Wis/26 Cha is a hilarious spread—you're no better at remembering books and facts than the average city commoner, lacking in common sense, with such a fantastically beautiful voice that anyone who hears you speak forgets to notice anything else.
Well skewed stats are unfortunately encouraged by a 1-1 PB system, I was at least thinking of raising her INT a little so those stats aren't final. (Also I bought single stat +6 items instead of multistat items).
Also, you're one to talk, mister I'm-so-old-and-frail-even-a-low-cr-shadow-could-instakill-me. I would be heavily surprised if that 3 strength did NOT come to bit you in the ass soon.
Bards can buy rings/pages of spell knowledge to cheaply expand spell lists, which are awesome.
Don't even need 'em since I'm human and can just expand my spell list using FCB.
I like that she turned down the Lion Blade (Yes, the class does super-suck!)
Mayhaps a lady who'd like to see a bit more gender equality in the Empire? Even if it's not specifically about the inheritance laws?
Technically the more detailed backstory is that she deferred to be recruited, rather than outright rejecting ever considering to become one. So as long as it doesn't require taking crap PrC levels, Kyra might still be open to being recruited. Though I imagine that would put her even more at odds with Lex (who doesn't quite trust her, and trusts the Lions Blades even less).
I can definitely see her wanting more gender equality, but I kind of feel like that would be a weak motivating force for her (either that or I just really, really don't want to borrow too much from D'Apcher). I kind of see her as a selfish sort who does what benefits her and hers, but doesn't really consider "Taldor." Which is of course why Lex is the 'hero' and she's the 'noble.'
I agree, there does seem to be quite a bit more estrogen in the characters in this game than in others.
You don't need a PrC to be part of an organization. I'd say that joining the Lion Blades might not be of much benefit to a high profile noble (maybe you were a member in your younger years and that's how you learned the skills you have now?). Having the contacts in Lion Blades would certainly be of benefit to you though!
Also, Make sure we aren't going over an unmodified 24 in any stat unless it's from age or level based stat improvements.
Getting boosts above this threshold with magical items is fine.
Well skewed stats are unfortunately encouraged by a 1-1 PB system, I was at least thinking of raising her INT a little so those stats aren't final. (Also I bought single stat +6 items instead of multistat items).
Also, you're one to talk, mister I'm-so-old-and-frail-even-a-low-cr-shadow-could-instakill-me. I would be heavily surprised if that 3 strength did NOT come to bit you in the ass soon.
When I said "hilarious," I didn't mean "bad"—I meant "potentially amusing." There's a reason why I gave Lord Rook a magical wheelchair (and Lesser Restoration, though without Still Spell this doesn't work if paralyzed). I figure this is one of the few campaigns where a 3 Str character would actually make sense and be playable.
As for magic item buying—if you want one ability score as high as possible, +6 items make sense. (However—the max here would put you at 28 I think?) I went for +4/+4 and +2/+2s, since +4/+4 costs about the same amount as a +6 while also giving two extra skill points to shuffle around. But magic items represent what your character thinks it's most important to spend money improving, so it's definitely a personal choice. It is neat here that the bard (or bards) don't need to feel compelled to take social skills, because everyone does them to some extent.
Oh, also—I assumed the answer was no, but should I be adding the Noble Scion's class skills as class skills? There's actually quite a lot of non-overlap there.
Nope! Only class abilities.
Lady Kyra: It's worth noting that the one time Lion Blades showed up in Pathfinder Society as NPCs, none of them had levels in the Lion Blade prestige class.
As for the cohort, I like the Magus. I am actually really liking the thought of a campaign with zero full casters!
-Matt
As for the cohort, I like the Magus. I am actually really liking the thought of a campaign with zero full casters!
-Matt
I definitely think that a campaign with zero full casters would be incredibly interesting, and a good fit for this type of campaign. That way, as I believe Matt said before somewhere, we have to use our wits instead of magic to reach our end goal. And for a game about intrigue, I think that would be awesome.
I have finally read through all of the recruitment page and so far I really like Rednal’s Lucas, DM Raven’s NOT Oberyn Martell, Mark Kay's Aurelian Branas, and depending on the final information on the character, SCKnightHero1's Ruatria.
I think it's totally fantastic the amount of energy Rednal is putting into this. The fact that Rednal went through the effort to think of how Lucas might interact with us, and looked into our information really stands out to me.
DM Raven's idea is fantastic, and he's a Rook too, so how can we say no?! =P
I like the effort put into Aurelian Branas' backstory, and I like the story too.
And depending on how Ruatria's finished and the rest of the information on her, I think that she could be an interesting fit.
Yea! I'm beginning to really form opinions on our potential cast.
I'm really excited that I've had so much turn out, I honestly thought when I said "There's one spot, maybe 2" people would've been discouraged by that, but I feel like that went completely the opposite way and instead I got people who wanted to step up to a challenge.
I imagine that probably means we'll be romping around with a 12 man party then. I tend to find that when GM's say "I swear I'm only accepting X number and maybe an extra" that's really code for "okay I'm actually 100% open to X+1 but I'm just giving myself a cop out if I change my mind." Though to be fair, that's likely subconscious.
People respond to the level of interesting they find the campaign. You presented an idea that was fun, and relatively novel, and presented well—having fewer slots means more tough decisions.
I'm guessing the X+1 depends on whether or not we hear back from Sanguinis in the timeframe.
Something I wanted to be clear on, any character with PC classes has traits right? So our cohorts and followers would have them? And it's okay for followers to perform crafting in place of cohorts right?
YUP!
I still don't think followers are supposed to get class levels, though...
Followers are technically npc-classes only. you can have them be smiths or enchanters, but you've got to go through the NPC routes to do that.
Only Cohorts can have "Hero" classes.
Note, that your cohort does not need to be constantly at your side during this game. It's likely that they will be off fetching this or doing that while your noble is dealing with whatever social event or fundraiser they've been invited/forced to attend.
It's difficult to think about, but this will be nothing like your typical Pathfinder game. Combat light... Like nearly non-existant for your nobles... and maybe a few more scraps with your cohorts, but nothing in the scope of "Go into dungeon and kill 50 monsters".
Your opponents are likely to be just as powerful as you (Which means that the danger of fatality is not so far gone from the players that they should ignore their defenses), but it's more of a 1 or 2 on 1 than a horde of baddies situation.
Again, as reference: Game of Thrones.
It's difficult to think about, but this will be nothing like your typical Pathfinder game. Combat light... Like nearly non-existant for your nobles...
Well... in situations where he can socially get away with it, Lord Rook might jump out of his chair and smack idiots around real hard. But we'll see.
OK, so it got pretty long and involved, but I was struck with some inspiration for a sweet background plot for Lady Gabrielle, involving her ambitious mother, her family estate, and the evil Andoran Lumber Consortium. Lady Gabrielle's estate lies on the front lines against the expansion of a ruthless group of merchants into Taldor, and by fighting them in Oppara, she is both saving her family and protecting the Empire.
There are some cool plot seeds there for you to use, Leviathan!
-Matt
So! Come Saturday, I could really use your guys' input for all of our submissions. I don't want to choose!
Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the applicants and their characters if you haven't been keeping up, and PM me with your candid opinions. I want to take into account, not just characters, but also the player's play style, and reliability. I want to know which characters you think would provide the most interesting/fun experience.
Optional:
I realize now that most of them have gone off and created their estates , while you are examining their "character" and characters, if you have the time, please take a minute to see what you think about the provided estate information in regards to how it matches up to their character concepts so that when we do get on to full-fledged estate building, we all know where improvements can be made.
Important: If you have experience with any of them specifically, I'd love to hear your input about what those experiences were and how they played out, good or bad.
Jesus Matt! I open your profile and I see this gigantic wall of text! I love that it's detailed, but for crap sake, put it in a spoiler!
I don't have the mind at the moment to read much (I've been reading and researching all day), I will get to it tomorrow after I have rest and probably get a few more things out of my head.
Hey, I said I got all inspired and stuff! I'll probably tighten it up a bit once I've slept on it.
-Matt
Cool.
I'm digging through about 20 PMs right now, so I'm a bit distracted. It's almost 130, and I've got a 5am run scheduled... UGH!
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I'm a little surprised that three bards have been submitted in a campaign where there's already a preselected class of the same type. I mean - I know this is a nonstandard campaign where inter-class dynamics isn't as important, but you generally just don't see that.
Just a hunch, but I think some people may or may not have seen the latest Mad Max movie recently.
I'm still beefing up my char's background so that people can link in to her more. If you want to establish some more connection with her (ala Lex/Robert) feel free to ask.
Yes, Bards do make formidable courtly characters. I'm not actually that surprised by the bardic turn out.
I am shocked that there are really no wizards to speak of.
Hmm, that picture looks a lot more like the 5e bard as I've seen it played.
I think most people hear "social focus" and think "oh, that's what Bards are best at, so they must be the best/most appropriate class for someone with a social focus." And there's nothing wrong with being a Bard in such a context—but not all the nobility are about to send their kids to Bard College, and not every social character is good at performance.
Personally, I've found that Inquisitors, Summoners and Skalds do just as well as party faces (if dedicated to it—I once took out a quest boss with a level 6 Summoner by getting a 46 on a Bluff check against him), while Cavaliers and Rogues still have all the skills if not the spells, and Wizards/Sorcerers have the spells without the skills.
A Bard can be a dedicated mage-killer, scout, fireball-thrower, and a decent mind-controller or illusionist, but for the most part people still see them as diplomacy-bots.
Honestly, with consideration to how thespians were really viewed in that time period, Bards were typically despised in their day as beggars and cheats. I don't really see nobility actually willfully sending their children to bardic colleges.
Now that being said, there are all sorts of archetypes, that aren't "Thespians" Opera singers, and Duelists and that like were all well respected.
Bards have a much better reputation in Taldor than, say, Cheliax... and Pathfinder/D&D doesn't quite fit with a historical era, as we've got 15th-century weapons and armor, 17th-century ships and exploration, and 19th-century cultural mores. But being trained in the classics of poetry and music is something the rich might be into (just not in order to be professional 'thespians'), with particularly unruly children being educated for an extra long period of time.
For easy reference to help decide who we think will be the best fit:
Links to Alias’ have been provided when available.
Grovo’s Ser Thomas/ Old man Thom - Lvl 12 Bard (Negotiator), Ascended Crime Lord
Rednal’s Lucas - Lvl 12 Kineticist, Lowborn Retired Military, Defenestrator
Bigrig107’s Valignatir - Lvl 1 Inquistor (Infiltrator)/ 11 Cleric of Asmodeus, Chelish Ambassador
DMRaven’s Ser Constantine Rook - Lvl 3 Harbinger/ 3 Wizard/ 6 Bladecaster, Guilt-ridden, Flirtatious, Flamboyant not Oberyn Martell
Jonny...Panic’s The Lady Calista Da Romano - Lvl 12 Telepath, Lady of Science
SCKnightHero1’s Ruatria Nyvannalis - Lvl 12 Bard (Arcane Duelist), Knight of the Arts
mark kay’s Aurelian Branas - Lvl 12 Swashbuckler, Returned Merchant Rebuilding his Ancient Family
Tech5bb’s Barnette Bright the XII - Lvl 12 Summoner, Merchant with a Dark Side
Bane88‘s David Ash - Lvl 5 Assassin/ 7 Rogue (unchained), Brothel Owner
Vincent Fleming’s Valentino da Secto - Lvl 12 Bard (Flame Dancer/ Savage Slakd)
JonGarrett Interested, possible Druid of Cassomir named Zereal
gyrfalcon Interested, possible Gnome Smuggler or Human Evangelist of the Dawnflower
Ash.. Interested, possible Merchant Prince from Thian Xia?
DM Gazebo God Interested, possible Kitsune Enchanted Sorcerer?
TheWaskally Dotting for interest, original concept of Godling ruled a no
Gerard Nisroc Briefly discussed being Harakani’s business partner, no submission yet
DM Barcas Dotting for interest
Tharasiph Questions asked
Ridge - Questions asked
Harakani - Bowed Out
Welp... There goes the bit about players only posting in discussion...
Someone must've smuggled them in.
I've put up a scene about 4 months before the events of the game begin, if you'd like to participate via the {spoiler=Group RP} tag.
It's a chance to flex your imaginations (Or learn to walk, for those who haven't done PbP just yet), and get to know how the potentials RP as well. I think it will be fun, and enlightening... and maybe take some of the anxiety out of the recruitment process.
It's a nice idea, but I have a feeling it's going to make the recruitment thread seriously explode in the next two days.
It'll be "enspoilered" so ignoring it can be an option.
I like exploding threads. Gives me something to really anticipate while at work.
-Matt
So I've heard from CRFaye, and Mattastrophic their final private preferences (unless something changes or some absolutely mind-blowing final applicant appears in the next day). Tbeard, you've also privately prefaced this recruitment with with me, and I hope to get your final opinion shortly. So, CommandoDude, if you could send me a PM with your opinions for my consideration.
So when will recruitment be closing down today and how soon after it closes are we going to know who's been picked?
It closes on about 9 hours (midnight my time) and I'll be working all day Saturday, so I won't have any desicions till at least tomorrow night.
Valignatir reporting!
But it's 2:42 a.m. here, so I'll be heading to bed shortly.
Before I go, however, I just wanted to thank you, Leviathan, for choosing me. "Evil" characters can be hard to allow in normal campaigns, I get that.
Especially Cheliax's kind of evil.
But you're giving me a chance anyway, and I really appreciate that.
As for the rest of the team, I hope me being selected does not cause any upfront problems.
I will tone back the pubic evil stuff for everyone's benefit, as you notice from the alignment chane.
It's just, sometimes you need to be evil in order to beat evil.
Thank you,
Valignatir Jeggare.
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It's okay. Having an evil character in the group means I have someone to pin things on.
-Matt
Well, there's "Evil alignment" and then there's "I am a devoted servant of a demon lord bent on the enslavement of all humanity." But maybe just don't pray loudly or carve pentacles into your flesh in front of everyone else and we should probably do okay.
(P.S. I've discussed with the GM and there's a good chance that I'll wind up LE before this campaign is over, but there's faith and ideals on top of alignment throughout all this)
Well, there's "Evil alignment" and then there's "I am a devoted servant of a demon lord bent on the enslavement of all humanity."
Yeah, this. I will say though that having an evil party member will be...interesting.
I'm a little disappointed that Lucas didn't get picked though. So you're going to have some big boots to fill!
By the way, can we agree to either post with aliases only or no aliases in the discussion thread? To keep things simplified.