My reservation with the seven virtues is that it is extremely vague. There is very little to a character that really allows them to embody a virtue. My feeling is that were we to go that route, we would end up playing whatever characters we were planing, and then just arbitrarily assigning them a virtue. That virtue might, or might not actually influence how that character was played or interacted. So on that point I'd vote nay.
The other idea, of all having a collective religious affiliation and purpose has much more concrete implications and specific role playing opportunities. If there is interest, I'd still be up for putting that in to action, even if it did not influence class selection.
As for a common deity, I could work with Erastil, as the god of home, hearth, and family, but other deities might provide a more interesting variety of aspects upon which to draw. Iomadae, as the goddess of valour, justice, honour, makes an easy choice as the champion of all things that are right. Desna works due to it being the primary religion of Sandpoint. Shelyn as a cultural focal point, covering art, beauty, lore, music, love, good, luck, and protection, also provides a lot of foci. Torag works for a primarily dwarven group whose interests cover forge, work and creation, as well as protection and strategy. Sarenrae has healing, redemption, honesty, and the sun.
In terms of party roles, what would be the most useful for me to focus on, Damage or Tanking? What candidates do we have for party face?
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so id say that we are a no on both the 7 virtues and the religious connection. as for roles.
Cuchulainn/Ethan Sower---Cleric of Erastil------------------Face/Healer
Matthew or 'Black Esme'Proust/?? Battle Oracle 'Golemancer'-Support
Mike or Dread/Morinn Alskazi du'Durazi Dwarven Rogue--------Trapster
Chris/Pedwiddle---Sorcerer----------------------------------Arcane assalt
LastNameOnEarth---Paladin-----------------------------------Tank? Primary Combatant?
French Wolf---Shoanti Druid/Elven Bard/Barbarian----Id think any of these three would work for augmenting the party FW
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My guy or gal is starting to come together. She will be a buffer and provide some support with several skills. Not a face.
I'll take a look at the images to help choose a race. The theme is pretty set its just finding something to hang it all together. Ultimately she will be a general support spellcaster.
I did toy with the idea of a shoanti barbarian/druid with an earthbreaker or scythe.
Cheers
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Cuchulainn/Ethan Sower Human Cleric of Erastil-------------Face/Healer
Matthew or 'Black Esme'Proust/Portia Jeggare Battle Oracle 'Golemancer'-Support
Mike or Dread/Morinn Alskazi du'Durazi Dwarven Rogue--------Trapster
Chris or Pedwiddle/?? Ifrit 'Tatooed' Sorcerer (Fire)-------Arcanist
LastNameOnEarth---Paladin-------------------------Tank? Primary Combatant?
French Wolf---Lycan type (Oracle? Witch? Druid?)------------Support
Matthew here. This is the avatar I hope to use for the campaign. I'm still working on the character.
Portia is Chelaxian, as they make up a large part of Varisia, but her family will have lived here for 2-3 generations. As a Chelaxian, she is accustomed to the Varisians and the Shoanti, but doesn't consider them fellows in any way.
As an oracle, she must choose a deity or group of deities and I'm afraid Erastil would be almost impossible for this character. His domains are bad for oracles, inquisitors and clerics focused on making things with magic. Almost any of the other gods would make a better choice for me than Erastil - the rustic god of home, hearth and....farms. 8)
I've been planning to go with Iomede simply because Torag doesn't have Battle Oracles. For those unaware, Torag is the dwarven deity of the forge. My RAW choices were Iomede, Rovagug, Gorum and Cayden Cailiann. I went with Iomede because I'm Lawful Good. If you want to let Torag have battle oracles, then that would align me with the two dwarves at least.
I don't mind the virtues thing but I think you've confused them. There are 4 cardinal virtues, laid down by Plato: Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Restraint. There are then three heavenly graces, as laid down by Paul: Faith, Hope and Charity. It's the sins that have seven though I guess if people want to believe in the seven virtues, they are welcome to.
I have dibs on Prudence if we go that route. I'll pass on both Hope and Charity as I've dated them previously. I'm from the south, but still would have found it strange to meet a girl named Justice. There are some night clubs in downtown Atlanta where you can meet a girl named Restraint however, if you like that kind of thing. 8)
I had understood that what bonded us together was that we had all newly arrived in Sandpoint and were therefore probably staying at the same inn. If you want to go with the same deity or the virtues, that's fine, decide what you want to do and let me know. I will work it in, work around it or make a character that plays to it.
If you want to make a party of all the same race, I've played that before. I've DM'd games of all rogues and another of all clerics. If you want us all to worship the same god, that's fine, I'd just build a character in that vein.
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Matt, when i posted that I was remembering that The Runelords have 7 sins their magic is focused on (The 7 Sins) and that they were based on corrupted 7 virtues. so I googled 7 Virtues and thats what came up :D
But that being said, I think we've shelved both those ideas (being all religiously aligned and being 'avatars' of the virtues)
I think I'll be going with Iomadae as well. Even though she is practically the default choice for a Paladin, I've never actually played one.
so id say that we are a no on both the 7 virtues and the religious connection.
Agreed, it appears that there are enough reservations from enough players that it would be unwise to pursue it further. I really only wanted to move forward with one of those ideas if there was overwhelming enthusiasm from everyone. Still, it does give me some food for thought for future potential campaigns, and for that, I am thankful!
So I was doing a little more research into sorcerers last night, and came upon this combination:
Ifrit Elemental (Fire) Tattooed Sorcerer
I'm envisioning someone from the Sklar-Quah Shoanti clan. Tattoos are big in their society, so it would fit that they'd draw some power from them. Ifrit should be fairly fun to roleplay (I won't make it too annoying) and is fitting (somewhat) with the Cinderlands origin. I'm thinking they'd follow Sarenrae, to keep up the fire theme as well as a path toward redemption.
Any objections, or should I start building?
No objections here, I think this idea sounds fun. I like the Shoanti a lot, and have no reservations about an ifrit. I say get crackin'!
I have dibs on Prudence if we go that route. I'll pass on both Hope and Charity as I've dated them previously...
LOL, just caught this on reread! Well played, sir.
I'd be willing to house rule that Portia may be a follower of Torag rather than Iomedae, if that would be your preference, Matthew.
Not a bard. I'll put it together tomorrow and the theme will be lycanthropy. Sort of.
Cheers
Hmm...
Curiosity piqued.
So what character I play and what sort of paladin he is depends a lot on what roll we would like him to play. There a few common kinds of paladin builds, but in this case it pretty much boils down to two; do we want him up front, soaking all the enemy attacks while the rest of the team does most of the damage needed to take down the enemies, or do we want him up there as a damage dealer, taking them down?
In either case he can be a meat shield via HP and swift Lay on Hands uses to keep himself standing, but the question remains; what is more useful, a tank, or a killer?
At present, I am leaning towards my kid idea as he could be either of these, or try to switch hit a bit between them. Butcher would be a damage dealer only. Looking back at my notes for Butcher, I see that I had him built as a fighter or barbarian as opposed to a Paladin. While I can think of ways now to make him a Pali, I'm torn between that and leaving him for now and playing someone envisioned as purely Paladin.
I like odd Paladin builds, and the idea of a drug addicted/alcoholic paladin has potential, but odd Paladins sometimes chafe people as much as Lawful Stupid ones do. Thoughts?
Looking at the party make up maybe a tank with the potential to take down the enemies in later levels thanks to smiting. I played alongside an uber tank though, a sword and board fighter and he found it a bit boring.
The kid has great potential to change with the campaign, something that matters to me usually.
Cheers
P.S. Looking at Opalia as my elven PC
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Almost Pedwiddle where my PC is concerned. I doubt I'll take levels of barbarian. The idea I have is based on magic and skills. She will however be an elf with a longbow.
DM RA would it be alright to take an elven racial trait from the ARG which makes her dazzled by daylight and gives her darkvision instead of low-light vision?
The concept is to take levels of wolf druid with a moon witch to create an ethereal elven creature striving to combine her magic into a mystic theurge. Her combat skills would be secondary to her various skill set and spells - about as supportive as I can get. The darkvision and penalty in full light would just add to that persona. I intend to keep her veiled to mitigate the worst of this brightness.
Probably looking at the slumber hex to just add to the night theme.
Wolf and moon but not quite a lycan.
Cheers
P.S. If we definitely do need more melee power I can shelve the concept and return to my trippy happy druid but I do like this combo. I have a half-orc druid who is a nastier piece of work. He was built for Shattered Star but I can adapt him. He is more optimised and uses the ARG to give him a "wolf" bite plus a few other odd bits. Assuming our DM doesn't mind me going off-Core alot more.
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Last- Go with the concept you most want to play. I think we need a good AC with great damage potential. With 6 characters and 3 maybe 4 of them having healing capabilities (Ethan, Opalia, Your paly, and maybe Portia)...I think we will be able to offset damage soak.
Morinn will be maxing acrobatics as he levels up and I plan to take improved initiative as his next feat. So as to maximize sneak attack damage. So he will be a switch hitter, melee more than ranged though. Though within 30 feet he can sneak attack with the crossbow.
Ethan Sower, Human Cleric of Erastil------------Ranged Damage/Healing
Portia Jeggare, Battle Oracle 'Golemancer'------Melee Damage?/Ranged Damage?/Spell Support
Morinn Alskazi du'Durazi, Dwarven Rogue---------Melee Damage?/Ranged Damage?
Pedwiddle---Ifrit 'Tatooed' Sorcerer (Fire)-----Ranged Damage/Spell Support
Opalia Ceyliniar, Elven Druid-----------Melee Damage/Backup Healing?/Maneuvers
LastNameOnEarth---Paladin-----------------------Melee Damage?/Tank?
Crunch on Opalia coming together.
DM RA would it be alright to take an elven racial trait from the ARG which makes her dazzled by daylight and gives her darkvision instead of low-light vision?
Okay by me!
Ta
How are things coming, guys? It appears that the issues with Paizo's website have been resolved now. I don't know about the rest of you, but I had a lot of trouble loading pages yesterday.
How are things coming, guys? It appears that the issues with Paizo's website have been resolved now. I don't know about the rest of you, but I had a lot of trouble loading pages yesterday.
Mostly down to just fluff, and ditto on the issues yesterday...
ditto. It was so bad I couldnt even really log on yesterday. All I have left is encumbrance I think
Ethan Sower, Human Cleric of Erastil
Portia Jeggare, Battle Oracle 'Golemancer'
Morinn Alskazi du'Durazi, Dwarven Rogue
Zataya "Firebringer" Ifrit 'Tatooed' Sorcerer (Elemental-Fire Bloodline)
Opalia Ceyliniar, Elven Druid (Wolf Shamen)
LastNameOnEarth---Paladin
I couldn't get on either. The site might well not have existed. It slowed me down a bit, as all my notes where in my profile, but I think I'm nearing completion now. I have a few questions for the GM though of course.
I was having a great amount of difficulty getting Butcher to work the way I had envisioned him, but I think I have it together now. He is a two handed weapon Paladin of Erastil (I had planned on Iomadae, but as I fine tuned the background, it became clear Erastil fit him better, since he is more the quiet, humble, hard working type) who will be able to unleash a lot of damage, soak a lot of the same, have decent AC, and provide back up healing for the group. He'll have some face skills, but they may be limited somewhat by his physical appearance.
All came to an end when fire giants attacked the village. Like all the other men, he rushed to help defend, though it was more a matter of distracting the creatures long enough that their wives and children might escape. In a desperate move, he grabbed a hold of the giant's sword in an effort to disarm him. The giant could not swing the sword with him holding on, so it flung him and the blade aside, the steel glowing hot, into a wooden shoppe. Flames sprung up around the butcher and he was lost in moments to his burns and the smoke that clouded his lungs. He expected to die, but for some reason he did not. He woke to find he had been tended to, but that the magic resources had been stretched so thin, that while they had stopped him from dying, none of his wounds had been healed. He was a mass of burned flesh from head to toe, with weeping wounds that required constant attention to stave off infection. His family, and most of the villagers in truth, were dead and the village burned to the ground. He found the sword to which he had clung, and claimed it; the only thing he had to connect him to the past, and to the beast that had taken his entire world. Now his world is one of confusion and pain; both the physical from his poorly healed burns, and emotional from his complete loss.
Not knowing what else to do, he has dedicated himself to making sure no one else needs to feel what he has felt, and to punish anyone who would inflict that pain on others. He has named the sword Grief, and he wields it well.
Butcher was among the force sent to destroy one of the Wardstones in an action that led to the Fourth Mendevian Crusade. When the invasion of the Storm King was repulsed, those responsible were rounded up, and Butcher was among those captured, though he did not go peacefully, and the capture was not without the shedding of blood. After his capture, a startling revelation came to light, that the Witches of the Coven, his mothers, called so because he was never told which one had actually birthed him, were found to have been using compulsive magic to win many of their warriors over, some had been subjected to the magic for years. The Butcher ended up in a circumstance where he became honestly confused about whether he had been a willing participant in the attacks or not.
Given the doubt around their complicity, Butcher and other warriors, particularly the children and young ones, they were given over to the church to be assessed, observed, taught, and if necessary, contained. Many could not overcome their training and conditioning. These escaped, or attempted the same, and either fled into the Worldwound or found some place to carve out chaos and death. Death or imprisonment was the usual result. Guilt overwhelmed others, and they either languished in it, or joined forces with the defenders, effectively changing sides. Butcher found a mentor; a priest of Erastil who was able to give him a new perspective. While unaware of whether he had been in charge of his actions during the Crusade and before, what he had learned of the world, and the Worldwound convinced him that he did not want the Storm King to succeed. Confusion gave him the desire to get far away from Avistan and the Worldwound and create a new life.
He found a town and worked hard to be respected there, despite his demonic visage. He found he believed in the tenets of hard work and self reliance taught by Erastil, and that he wanted to contribute and make something. However, he found the only skill he had was with blood. He was not squeemish in the least, and knew well how to hew muscle and bone, and found he could adapt these skills to learning how to butcher animals. Now his name, given to him originally to inspire fear and loathing, was now a simple description of what he did. He met a woman, married and had children. Like any faithful of Erastil, he worked hard with skill and pride, and created a home.
Part of this build is the idea that he uses a giant sword; butcher wields it because it was the sword of the giant that killed his family, and will likely never use any other blade until he lays that giant down. He'll therefore be upgrading it as he goes during the game. While there are a few ways via RAW for a character to wield a giant weapon, the one I settled on was this.
Oversized Limbs: You have over-sized limbs, allowing you to use Large weapons without penalty.
It replaces his spell like ability. I envision Butcher as a giant, as far as Medium sized creatures are concerned, so having massive, beefy arms and ham sized fists fits well as well. This is usually an ability that has to be rolled, but it can be pitched to the GM as outlined here in the following section:
GMs may customize tiefling NPCs using the following charts, or allow players to do so by rolling a d%. Players with a particular character concept in mind may consult their GM if they want to select a specific variant ability or may take the Fiendish Heritage feat. The abilities and alternative physical features presented here replace the standard / default equivalent trait or feature. Any abilities that grant spells or spell-like abilities are treated as having a caster level equal to the tiefling’s character level.
If the character build and concept work out and meet with your approval, I'll pitch some ideas about how I think his addictions and pain should be played out, in game.
I would say that in this case, no, not particularly. He thought he would die by that fire, but fire itself is only amongst many ways to die. He might die by fire the next time he is burned, but that is no more likely than dying by the sword, or in a cave in, or under a giant's boot. I would think his major eccentricity on the matter might be protecting families and children, to the point of abandoning all else to accomplish it.
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Unable to update Opalia's profile but its just a question of gear and fluff. Still on course to complete her tomorrow evening unless Paizo continues to bug me.
I am leaning towards taking a wolf companion instead of a domain. Something to act as her protector and an extra combatant if needed. But reading the Butcher it seems a little unnecessary now. That is one mean warrior.
Cheers
I got a new icon for Portia because I changed the color of her hair. I'm not totally happy with it and will almost certainly change it again tomorrow.
Please find page 1 of her character sheet Here.
I had a lot of trouble finding pictures to match my vision and still haven't got it perfect, but enough is enough. I've spent about 8 hours in photoshop on her and OCD has to end somewhere.
Check her out. She's even got a logo for Jaggere Golemworks. The crunch is complete and I will write the fluff tomorrow. I'm off to play GW2 right now. After 4 hours of photoshop, I deserve it.
Things are proceeding nicely. So then...
The timing of our campaign presents an interesting question at this point. Should I launch the IC thread this weekend, or would it be better to simply wait until the middle of next week? I don't want to kick things off to the sound of chirping crickets because everyone's too busy with holiday festivities to engage. Thoughts?
Yeesh, LastName! The Butcher is both compelling and horrifying at the same time! I'll admit that he's maybe just slightly out there for my personal tastes, but I don't see anything mechanically I'd outright veto. I can't wait to see how you role-play him in game (as well as the other PCs' reactions).
If the character build and concept work out and meet with your approval, I'll pitch some ideas about how I think his addictions and pain should be played out, in game.
You've got my approval. I'm interested to see what you've got in mind.
Check her out. She's even got a logo for Jaggere Golemworks. The crunch is complete and I will write the fluff tomorrow. I'm off to play GW2 right now. After 4 hours of photoshop, I deserve it.
Holy crap, that is by far the prettiest character sheet I've ever seen!
Matthew, be careful, lest I promote you to assistant DM, and task you with creating maps and handouts for your fellow players! :D
Check her out. She's even got a logo for Jaggere Golemworks. The crunch is complete and I will write the fluff tomorrow. I'm off to play GW2 right now. After 4 hours of photoshop, I deserve it.Holy crap, that is by far the prettiest character sheet I've ever seen!
Matthew, be careful, lest I promote you to assistant DM, and task you with creating maps and handouts for your fellow players! :D
Oh, and free custom character portraits while you're at it!
Yeesh, LastName! The Butcher is both compelling and horrifying at the same time! I'll admit that he's maybe just slightly out there for my personal tastes, but I don't see anything mechanically I'd outright veto. I can't wait to see how you role-play him in game (as well as the other PCs' reactions).
If the character build and concept work out and meet with your approval, I'll pitch some ideas about how I think his addictions and pain should be played out, in game.I'm interested to see what you've got in mind.
I have a tendency to come up with out-there concepts. If it is too much, I have other ideas I could work with, such as the kid concept I pitched earlier. The idea with that concept was to play a character that was the perfect Paladin; optimistic, kind, well meaning, generous, and idealistic, but discerning, and very much not buying into the Lawful Stupid mentality. I love paladins, but I have a habit of making them quirky, like Butcher, in a way that does not always jive with people's preconceived notion of a paladin. My Pali's always follow the rules of being a Paladin, but usually manage fly in the face of the Stereotypes.
While I was trying to get Butcher straight in my head I was experimenting with ideas and came up with this variation of the Teifling Paladin: Baalorre. He's mechanically the same as Butcher, but leaves out the burned and traumatized aspect of that character.
Here is the mock up for the Kid: Yurian
Did I mention I took an alternate racial trait to be able to cast enlarge person instead of burning hands? Should be fun to see what happens when she casts it on the Butcher...
Got a question for ya, GM: do you play with the variant rule where using an acid flask for a focus will give +1 damage to acid splash, or a flask of liquid ice will give +1 damage to ray of frost? From what I understand, the source for that rule is Adventure's Armory.
In other news, trying to finish out the crunch of my character, and will hopefully be ready in short order.
EDIT - I won't be available tonight, but otherwise will be able to play this weekend unless the rest of the group objects.
Did I mention I took an alternate racial trait to be able to cast enlarge person instead of burning hands? Should be fun to see what happens when she casts it on the Butcher...
Nothing but fluffy, wholesome goodness, I'm pretty sure.
I will be on a plane to the States on the 28th and will stay until Feb 1. I will gave internet no matter where I am and plan to post once a day. If I should miss a day or two, please NPC me - however, I do not expect this to be an issue.
I'm not promising a brilliant, well researched, monumental "OMG" post every day, but I will do the best I can.
I can start whenever. We're not doing much for Christmas, so I simply check in.
This game is not listed in my campaigns. Is there something I have to do to make it list?
I'll be travelling tomorrow and Sunday, and I'm away with my wife for a few days from Dec 28-31 (Kids with the grandparents, yay). Those days I'll be spotty or absent, but I should be able to check in through the holidays otherwise.
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Have had no access to Paizo today. Its been down for at least 14 hours for me. Must have missed that window you all posted in watching Transformers with my son. Opalia is consequently no further forwards and I have a very early start tomorrow.
I doubt I'll be able to post much from 24th-26th.
Cheers
Portia is now finished. You can find her here.
Making a golemancer got me to thinking about what life is and how it is created. It seemed to me that there are key moments in our lives where we attempt to create a life for ourselves moving forward, and so I played on this theme.
Portia is 17 and has just finished her studies in Magrimar. Unable to pursue the career she's studied for, she feels like something that's been switched on but given no purpose. With a letter of introduction from her mother, she is travelling to Sandpoint to meet her mother's friend, the innkeeper in Sandpoint.
I plan to play the character as very ordered but confused. She has this idea that life is supposed to be planned out with everything anticipated and in place. As the campaign progresses, I hope to show her learning that life is something you take as it comes, something you adapt to rather than prepare for.
This is a bit of a first for me as I don't usually make characters with common, real life issues. Our previous discussion got me thinking about Charity however, a girl I dated 10 years or so ago. She was exactly like this upon graduating college - ready to start the life as a vetinary tech, yet disappointed to learn that it had the same duties as the part time job she'd had in college.
We'll see how it goes.
Her entire story is included on the second page of her pdf. When you begin play, she will have just arrived in Sandpoint with a letter to the Tian innkeeper from her mother. This will be her first night in Sandpoint as well as her first night away from home.
The bones of Opalia have a little flesh and sinew on them now. I'll probably add a bit more tomorrow.
She is turning into a opposite or reflection of Portia.
Cheers