Sky Piracy by the Stormborn (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

Mythic Adventures.

The Airship.

Map of the Inner Sea region.

Golarion Worldwide Map.

Downtime Rules

Sky Piracy with a ragtag monster crew! Whee!


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Hey all! I'm back again, looking to start something a little bit unusual, at the bequest of a few of my real-life players.

They're just coming off of the heels of a Carrion Crown campaign (they just assaulted Renchurch for the first wave of undead-killing) and they don't want to be quite done with their characters by the time the campaign finishes. So, naturally, they want to be sky pirates. Obvious, right?

Well, I've been writing in a few hooks that gets them a free airship post-campaign, and the both of them have leadership so they don't even really have to hire a crew...but a crew of nonmagical 2nd-level followers on a super-magical airship doesn't really sit right with me. I want some badass crew members with them so I don't have to recalculate CR and so they don't get lonely. So, I've come to the paizo recruitment boards to try and garner a couple of people for them.

This is basically an interest check, for now. I'll put up more specific character creation guidelines if I get a few people interested, but what it'll boil down to, in gameplay, is this: One or more of you decides that you want to try a specific kind of mission. Say, you want to find a powerful wizard's tower and assault it and take all of his magic stuff. So, then I spend a few days creating that encounter while you guys plumb your Gather Information rolls to find it, and then we do that encounter. Rinse and repeat. Y'all will be sky pirates, so there could be other pirate-rivals, and perhaps even invading and taking other ships and building up a fleet, and I believe one of the players' final goals was to find the Cloud Castle of the Storm King.

Oh, I'm looking for two or three other people for this. The current two people going into sky piracy are:

Belor, a human vampire rogue (knife master) 12

and

Praetorius, a human vampire fighter 1/sorcerer 6/eldritch knight 5

So! Who's up for it? The characters will be nongood, and 14th level to start. More specific guidelines to follow interest.


Do we all have to be vampires? I wouldn't mind it but it will influence the character I make.


Hmmm...

Would you be okay with a 11th level half-fiend?

And, you were slightly unclear. Do we have different airships? Are we part of the same crew? Etc. etc.

Silver Crusade

Sounds cool, I have been following your Tomb of Horrors and beyond campaign and I like the way you DM. I would like to do a scarred witch doctor


No, you don't all have to be vampires, though templated creatures would be allowed on a case by case basis and it has to be interesting.

So...no advanced characters (unless they're Captain America, who almost certainly is an Advanced human), but werewolves are just fine.

An 11th-level half-fiend is just fine with me.

The idea to start out would be that Praetorius and Belor find and hire you to be a part of their crew, and that you'll generally always remain allies, though it's possible that your characters gain ships of their own.


I'm in would love to do a Vamp, or Graveknigh, I will go with Graveknight someone needs to watch over the others as they sleep and be able to go out in the day. Just need to make sure my armor covers everything so not to scare dthe kiddies :)

So the group is evil then right? Is Anti-Paladin ok? Can it be LE instead of CE like in Way of the Wicked. I don't mind CE, but I don't want to be a loose cannon type either.

The Exchange

leinathan:
Would you be willing to consider custom archetypes? I was thinking about this, this, or this.


The pair of characters starting this off are evil, and yes, you may be evil. It may even be expected. Don't let this stop you from coming up with Neutral concepts, though. CN pirates are the bread and butter.

Graveknight is completely fine. And yes, Antipaladins can either be LE or NE. I have a LE sadism antipaladin in my Legacy of Fire game.

I actually like LE better for antipaladins than CE, because having a code is cool.

As for the custom archetypes...I have a few questions.

The swordsworn archetype's unarmed strike ability...does this just add 1d6 to all attacks for 1 round, or does it add the monk's current unarmed strike damage to the attacks?

Other than that lack of clarity, i really like the swordsworn archetype. The phychic monk, however, I like less. If you want to play a spellcasting monk, play a warpriest of Irori (oh! Forgot to mention. The new classes are allowed).

Godhammer I also like less. It's pretty much precisely like the warpriest.


How about a 13th level Unhallowed Lich Cleric 13? Raise the dead and heal the dead..

Grand Lodge

Gunslingers allowed? Musket Master specifically.


Lich is a +2 CR adjustment template, so a lich character would have to be 12th level, no?

Gunslingers would be allowed, but just to warn, Belor has a musket master cohort for the purpose of sniping people from the sky.

Silver Crusade

So I am thinking a NE half orc scarred witch doctor with the shrunken head necklace, scary tiki mask. focusing on bestow curse. A character that will make the enemy wish for sweet death as opposed to the wretched condition that they now find themselves in.


Hang on, here come character creation guidelines!

Level! 14th level, or a total CR of 13.

Race! All Core races are allowed, obviously, but also the following: Aasimar, Dhampir, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kobold, Orc, Strix, Sylph, Tiefling

Class! Core and Base classes are all allowed, as are the ACG classes (as long as you keep up with updates when the book actually gets released). No Ninjas or Samurai, though, and be careful about having a Cavalier, because a mount in the sky would be silly. Flying mounts, though...fun!

Alignment! Any non-good, with a strong emphasis on CN and CE (as y'all are scallywags).

Ability Scores! Ability scores are generated by 20pt buy! Simple enough.

Traits! Any two traits, please.

Extras! In addition to everything else about your character...you'll get MYTHIC TIERS.

You'll start off with three mythic tiers. Choose a path for your character and gain all of the benefits that you would normally have. Praetorius is a Champion and Belor is a Trickster.

...

Obviously, I'd like some backstory that matches all of this. You definitely need some expanded explanation of why you're 14th level and why you're mythic. You don't have to have anything specific for the mythic power other than having some epic encounter with a higher power involved.

I'd also like some standard backstory explaining who your character is. If you're a templated character, there needs to be explanation of how that happened.

I THINK that's it. Hopefully that's clear. Any questions?

The Exchange

leinathan:
leinathan wrote:

As for the custom archetypes...I have a few questions.

The swordsworn archetype's unarmed strike ability...does this just add 1d6 to all attacks for 1 round, or does it add the monk's current unarmed strike damage to the attacks?

It would be 1d6 at lower levels, then 1d8, then 1d10, and so on. That's why it says "the monk’s base unarmed strike damage"; because it is based on the monk class feature.

leinathan wrote:
The phychic monk, however, I like less. If you want to play a spellcasting monk, play a warpriest of Irori.

Actually this archetype is based off of the qinggong monk, trading class abilities for ki-fueled spell-like abilities. However, rather than a totally flexible random smattering of abilities, I chose to make an archetype surrounding a specific concept, that of a wise old seer, a psychic mystic monk after the kind in The Shadow. Suggesting this concept is achievable by way of Cleric of Irori demonstrates a misunderstanding of the archetype.

leinathan wrote:
Godhammer I also like less. It's pretty much precisely like the warpriest.

In the sense that it is a divine caster with free weapon focus, yes. In virtually every other sense, no. But in that sense it is more similar to the existing Crusader cleric archetype than it is to Warpriest. However, regardless of other similarities, I ultimately based it on the Kensai magus archetype. I simply thought it appropriate for a cleric to have a similar archetype centered around his deity's favored weapon. The multitude of dissimilarities with Warpriest that you did not notice again suggest that you missed the concept.


Working on my graveknight now. I assumed 20pt buy so thats good. how long is recruitment going to be?


is this a PbP game?

if so, is it here on Paizo?


Okay intrigued. Thinking Likely Sylph Weather Druid 14 (guardian 3). Got a pretty decent idea for backstory and love the idea of sky pirates.

Looking at creating crunch. What is starting wealth? Standard for 14th level?


Yes, it will be PbP here on Paizo.

D-Kal, I just think that you can accomplish the same thing as you have in your archetypes with existing options. Perhaps not as easily or as powerfully, but more or less the same role.

As for the Swordsworn thing, that seems like a LOT of free damage for only 1 ki point.

And the Godhammer thing...the warpriest has the same ability to add magic powers to their weapon, and a focus on the diety's favored weapon, including the free Weapon Focus and scaling damage with that weapon. The concept of a warpriest IS a divine caster with a focus in one weapon, and IS similar to the magus.

Starting wealth should be WBL for 14th level.

Silver Crusade

I will withdraw my name for consideration, I am just to damn lazy to read the mythic ruleset. Have a great game everyone


Edward here...

This is another game just right for Little Orphan Annie....

of course she is already in a game, I wonder if I can come up with something...


Interested. Dotting so I can find this after work.

The Exchange

leinathan:
leinathan wrote:
D-Kal, I just think that you can accomplish the same thing as you have in your archetypes with existing options. Perhaps not as easily or as powerfully, but more or less the same role.

Once again, no, I defy you to make a build like the psychic monk in any other way. It is simply not viable.

leinathan wrote:
As for the Swordsworn thing, that seems like a LOT of free damage for only 1 ki point.

It is not. See this comparison:

Monk, 9th level, 16 Strength, Weapon Focus, Power Attack
attack - +9/+9/+4/+4; damage - 1d10+3+4 x4
Swordsworn, 9th level, 16 Strength, TWF, Imp TWF
attack - +7/+7/+2/+2; damage - 1d6+1d10+3 x4

As you can see, the swordsworn is doing less damage, with lower to-hit, and at the cost of a ki point. And that's not even using his defensive flurry (which would knock down the to-hit by another 2 across the board). In fact, as I'm typing this, I'm realizing how very underpowered that ability is. I'll have to go back and balance that.

leinathan wrote:
And the Godhammer thing...the warpriest has the same ability to add magic powers to their weapon, and a focus on the diety's favored weapon, including the free Weapon Focus and scaling damage with that weapon. The concept of a warpriest IS a divine caster with a focus in one weapon, and IS similar to the magus.

You got me there. I knew Warpriest got effective full BAB, but I didn't know about the similar ability to "divine pool". At that point, yes, my archetype seems much more similar. Even so, it still has many notable differences, such as the lack of scaling damage and effective full BAB, as well as the addition of a real domain and (almost-)full casting.


Can we pay to make items intelligent. Was thinking about giving my armor the ability to fly or teleport wouldn't work with me in it. more of oh crap daddy is dead lets GTFOH so he can come back :)

Edit: is HP 1/2 +1 after 1st?

Scarab Sages

I'm interested, but online by phone atm. I'd be interested in playing a pirate, maybe with a ninja or magus cross-class.


Okay, you're right about the swordsworn thing - I didn't do any real math, and now that you have, that's an excellent point.

Hmm. For 14th level?

How about monk 1/fighter 1/sorcerer 6/eldritch knight 6? You have 5th level spells, the Empyrial bloodline gives you WIS-based casting and you can take a lot of the spells on your list as spells known (some of them you can't, obviously, like augury, but most of them you can). You have +10 BaB, which is the same that a 14th-level monk has. You lack many of the monk's defensive abilities, and you lack ki, though you can flavor your spells the same way that ki gets flavored, if you like. One more monk level grants a great ability (evasion) and a bonus feat and you don't lose the 5th-level spells or BaB for it, so perhaps fighter 1/monk 2/sorcerer 6/EDK 5 is better.

Idk, it's not the same, but it works in similar ways.

...

No, you can't pay to get intelligent items - you must do so through class features (pretty much just the bladebound template) or through ADVENTURING :D

You can either roll or you can take just 1/2. That is to say, you can roll 13d8 or take 4 for each hit die, or any combination of the two.


Considering to make a necromancer cleric since he would fit in nicely wit the current party ( undead yum yum ), maybe a bit of back story inspired by the carrion crown campaign and some personal story in the mix. Not sure on the details still, but just the scene of us running around in an airship full of undead minions sounds like fun ( zombie bombs come to mind ).

I would like your feedback on the idea so I know if I can develop a char ;)

The Exchange

leinathan:
leinathan wrote:
Okay, you're right about the swordsworn thing - I didn't do any real math, and now that you have, that's an excellent point.

Thanks. I did put a good deal of effort into that particular archetype. I've reverted that ability to an older version. It now always adds the damage, but only to his chosen sword, as precision damage (not multiplied on critical), and restricted in the normal monk ways (armor & shields & such).

leinathan wrote:

Hmm. For 14th level?

How about monk 1/fighter 1/sorcerer 6/eldritch knight 6? You have 5th level spells, the Empyrial bloodline gives you WIS-based casting and you can take a lot of the spells on your list as spells known (some of them you can't, obviously, like augury, but most of them you can). You have +10 BaB, which is the same that a 14th-level monk has. You lack many of the monk's defensive abilities, and you lack ki, though you can flavor your spells the same way that ki gets flavored, if you like. One more monk level grants a great ability (evasion) and a bonus feat and you don't lose the 5th-level spells or BaB for it, so perhaps fighter 1/monk 2/sorcerer 6/EDK 5 is better.

Idk, it's not the same, but it works in similar ways.

Yeah, I considered something like that, but like you said, it's not the same. You have to bend over backwards a little to make it happen, you lose most of the monk features, you can probably cast other random spells that don't make sense, and you're forced to leverage one of the most powerful prestige classes available (in my opinion) to make it happen. But let's take a closer look at the psychic monk.

So let's even say you're 12th level, so you can spontaneously cast Suggestion for 2 ki. Your average monk probably has about 14 Wis, so at 12th you have 8 ki. So you can cast Suggestion 4/day. If we compare this to the Bard, it's about the same. The Bard can cast Suggestion as a 3rd-level spell 4 times per day with 14 Cha. They both have 3/4 BAB and a large amount of other useful class features, but the Bard can cast 4th-level spells at that point, as well as cast 4 each of 1st- & 2nd-level spells (not counting Cha score bonus spells), and the monk doing that has run out of ki, now unable to use many of his other class features. Make sense?

So yes, you can get thereabouts, kind of, but isn't that what archetypes are all about? Getting you to a concept without having to butcher-build? Goodness knows there's any number of archetypes that aren't "needed", but they exist for fun and flavor nonetheless.


Shoot it at me, marconi! Via PM or spoiler, or just posting it on here, whatever you like. I'm happy to answer questions and provide feedback.

You make a very good point, D-Kal. The limitation on the amount of ki that one has is a very real limit. It's a well-designed archetype, I'm just really leery of third-party and homebrew things, I suppose.

You've convinced me of that one, as well :)

The Exchange

Very well then, if I've convinced you on the two, I'll concede the last.
I'll see if I can roll something up.


You had me at "Airship" :-)

Dotting this thread for now. Gonna chew on a few character concepts and get back to you tomorrow morning. Definitely interested!


dotting


Interested! I will craft something up. A 45-50 year old human cleric of Zon Kuthon! Maybe he has a mid-life crisis.


I absolutely completely forgot something.

As this is an appropriately high level, I'm going to allow monster PCs for this recruitment/campaign.

You may play a monster of up to CR 14, using its CR as levels and its ability scores -10 as its ability score adjustments.

For example, if you wanted to play a troll fighter (I'm using this as an example, as trolls are my favorite monster character race), trolls are CR 5, so you would get the full complement of troll abilities (including its racial Hit Dice, so you'd actually be 1 Hit Die above the rest of the characters) and 5 fewer class levels, so you'd play a troll fighter 9. In addition, your racial mods to ability scores would be Str +10, Dex +4, Con +12, Int -4, Wis -2, Cha -4.

Most "monsters" will be allowed (most fey, but not the good-aligned ones, most monstrous humanoids, most giants, some dragons (of a certain age category and advancing by level thereafter) many undead but not all, etc. etc.), but be careful of playing monsters that are larger than Large size - they'll have difficulty being pirates and fitting comfortably on the airship.

That said, I want to disallow races/templates with any sort of non-toggleable offensive aura ability. The most notable (and probably desirable) example of this, is, of course, the lich. This is because these creatures are typically lone creatures due to the aura, and this is not a solo adventure.


very interested, but i must wait until some of the PbPs i have applied to stabilize in terms of posts/day, etc.

I probably wont make it in time for the initial selection, but i will be watching the recruitment for awhile at least.

If i don't make it in time and a player bows out in the future, drop me a PM if you are looking for someone to fill in.


A 13th level cleric is a CR 12.. +2 from lich makes it a CR 14.. Thats what we're shooting for right? CR 14?

What about a monster thats already a CR 14? Like say Fallen Trumpet Archon?

So a Lich is out then?


leinathan wrote:

Hang on, here come character creation guidelines!

Level! 14th level, or a total CR of 13.

Yes, liches are out. A trumpet archon would be fine, as long as I thought your reasoning for having fallen is sufficient.

To clarify, completely PC-race characters will end up, by RAW, CR 13 (14 class levels). Monster PCs get to be higher CR because I believe that the abilities that monsters possess are slightly below par for high-class-level campaigns. That, and the rules I stated are actually how paizo wants us to handle monster PCs.


I'm interested!


I'm definitely interested as well.

Missed out on a recent non-good campaign and this sounds like a pretty cool concept. Would a Nogitsune Oni be an acceptable monster? If not I've got an Imp Barbarian that I was considering as well.

The Exchange

I'm not very good at templates, so perhaps someone could help me out? I was looking at Skeletal Champion (because, yeah) but I am unsure of the resulting CR. It appears to scale with level (hit dice)? If so, that's no good. But if it's calculated up front (when acquired, so level 1), that works for me.


Skeletal Champion is a fixed +1. Half-Celestial is an example of one that scales by HD.

The Exchange

But it's +1 more than a skeleton of the same HD. Does that mean the skeleton is +0?

Scarab Sages

I'm interested in a Sabosan Oracle, mostly focused on the creature stats or possibly doing a Ranger/Oracle mix.

For a Sabosan, they are a CR 5 Monstrous Humanoid, but they have 7 HD like a Humanoid. If I wished to advance a Sabosan in CR by monster creation rules, which advancement would I use?


You may not play a straight-up skeleton, as they are mindless. A skeletal champion character simply has 1 fewer class level than a regular character of the same CR.

So, you would make a 13th-level skeletal champion character for this adventure.

A Sabosan? You would play a Sabosan [class] 9, and would simply have more HD than everyone else. That's part of what you gain in exchange for those 5 levels.

As for the Nogitsune Oni - perfectly fine. Just remember she'll only have seven class levels.

I love the amount of interest here. Answering these questions, even though they're many, is quite satisfying. I think I can turn this into something really fun and cool :)

Scarab Sages

Would level for gold and qualifying for feats be HD+Class, CR+Class, or just Class if we use a monster?


Qualifying for feats is by HD, level for gold is your effective character level for the purpose of being a PC - 14th right now.

That is to say, you have the number of feats as a character of your HD, while you have a 14th level character's starting gold, regardless of your HD.


Interested, going to make a storm hag. Going Air elemental bloodline sorcerer 1, then master of storms 6. Archmage path.


alright here is my idea...

The Iron Throne:

Years ago a paladin named Maidrayne Arabasti raided a cult of the Golden Erinyes. She killed all of them, however she did not speak the tongue of devils and that was what the curse of the High Priestess of the cult was spoken in... "In the name of the Erinyes Queen I curse you to bear her spawn and taint, your own child will be your damnation..." Soon after she married and bore a child, a beautiful girl that was the pride of her beaming parent's eyes...

Then at the age of thirteen things changed, overnight horns grew out of the girl's head, her skin became like burnished gold and her eyes lit up with a strange glow... The girl whimpered in pain as the transformation took place, the agony was such that the vocal cords could not express it in any way other then painful whimpers... Then her mother came, concerned about the whimpering she was hearing from her child. Maidrayne Arabasti then came upon her daughter and saw that the bed was befouled with blood, golden Ichor and horrid pus that flowed out of the girl's skin.

Then her mother looked upon her form and saw the horns, the skin and above all those fire lit eyes which shed tears of pain and agony. Instead of comforting her child Maidrayne Arabasti took her mace and brought it crushing down upon her daughter's leg in a holy rage, for her mother was of Iomedae and was sworn against all fiends and their descendants... Screeching in pain the child spoke suddenly in infernal, the phrase was one of vengeance and castigation and it set her mother alight with burn marks that would never fully disappear.

As it turned out the curse was self fulfilling, had Maidrayne Arabasti chosen to comfort her child the rest would not have come to pass... Now mother and daughter war, Maidrayne Arabasti upon the death of Queen Ileosa Arabasti was next in line for the Throne of Korvosa. Meanwhile her daughter went into hiding and eventually would fight and war her way through much of the Inner sea region as she tried to avoid the dogged pursuit of her mother's agents.

Her daughter took on the infernal name Indranna, meaning in the common tongue "Child of Vengeance". Indranna's source of power comes from the Erinyes Queen herself, Eiseth harbinger of wrath and retribution. Yet she has never prayed to Eiseth, her powers were given by a pact sworn in a dying priestess's blood and by the ancient covenants of Hell she is therefore damned and in full possession of her power for as long as she exists.

Indranna then set her ambitions on not just revenge but upon the power needed to make her vengeance possible. To this end she founded the Iron Throne, she gathered her followers from the dregs of the Chelish military, from the prison cells of countless nations and even a diabolist from the Academae who had managed to escape the Queen's purge of it along with everything else deemed "unholy" in the city.

The Iron Throne exists at least officially as an organization dedicated to the making of weapons and armor. In truth however this is just part of the organization's goals, The Iron Throne is also trying to corner the black market of weapons and armor... Especially magical weapons and armor, in addition to this the Iron Throne also seeks out mercenaries, sellswords and anyone else who can be recruited to the cause.

The Iron Throne itself has small numbers of members known as "Agents", they themselves are the ones who hire the mercenaries, search for rumors of lost treasure and either con/bribe/coerce/blackmail local authorities, nobility and criminal elements to assist them in their duties. While small in actual numbers the Iron throne has hundreds upon hundreds of contacts, typically minor nobility, law enforcement, criminals and so forth...

Why she would Join:

Indranna would join your airship simply to make use of it as a mobile command center of sorts, she would also join to personally pursue the weapons, armor, artifacts and so forth that will help her achieve the goal of sitting upon the Crimson throne with the corpse of her mother at her feet... Needless to say their shouldn't be that much group conflict so long as rare treasures were being sought, it can also make a rather interesting challenge... To besiege Korvosa itself and take the city, that would be plunder beyond even mythic reckoning...

Indranna:

Indranna will be an inquisitor of the archery variety, she will be packing strong ranged combat combined with the benefits of the Marshal path. She will also have leadership, although her cohort will likely be the only one along for the ride (seeing as the rest are busily running the Iron throne itself)...

GM do you like?


Good, the first real application!

Just a few little nitpicks (well, maybe one big nitpick).

There's no explanation on how she got from 1st to 14th level - I'd need a more expanded story about the adventures that she's gone on, the enemies that she's defeated, and so on. Same goes for the acquisition of mythic power. You stated that she's been gathering followers and stuff, but why do people follow her?

Additionally, just a question. What relation was your character's mother to Eodred Arabasti? Where was she during the events of Curse of the Crimson Throne?

Overall, a good concept - just needs a little bit further extrapolation. Also, what mythic path were you thinking?


I will be very disappointed if there isnt atleast one submission named Don Karnage.


Hmm.

Skypirates?

I have to say, it sounds awfully tempting!

And, as any sky pirate worth his salt knows, things are so much more fun with a Dragon :D

I'm a bit rushed atm, but I will look into the idea of rolling a (black) dragon of adult age. But I have a few questions before I start -

Shall we use the standard method for CR calculation or just go with One Level of PC class = 1 CR ?

And - although you mentioned dragons - they have Frightful Presence. Which might qualify as a non-toggleable offensive aura. Better ask ?

And finally - since dragons might end up with the *ehm* size issue, will we end up with enough starting gold to pick up an Greater Hat of Disguise (Alter Self at will).

I'm thinking perhaps one of the sneakier classes to continue on, perhaps the swashbuckler ...

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