The Fountain of Bethesda (Inactive)

Game Master TheBobJones

Dice Rolls | Portraits | Plans & Politics | Rivenrake Island | Tactical


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Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Crunchy

So I love character creation. I love to read guides, and plan out my character's progression. I love options, and tinkering. I want you to enjoy it as much as I can so these are very open-ended to allow you maximum enjoyment.

What to build for: You are intrepid adventures. You should prepare for a variety of situations. Having said that, see my mission statement. I am not going to put you in a situation where if you don't have magical X, you will die or sit in the corner twiddling your thumbs. That may happen as a result of things that happen, but I will not build encounters to kill you or nerf your abilities. I strongly believe that you are heroes living in your heroic story. When you cannot act hero-ly, it sucks.

Sources: All Pathfinder books. If you are going to use a 3rd Party Product, you have to send me a copy of the pages in the source book you are using. I would prefer you stay away from 3PP, but that is because I am lazy and cheap. No Mythic. It is just - weird. No Technology.

Races: Anything. You can customize a race, must be less than 17 RP. If your race is more than 17 RP, you loose a level, so start at level 3. I know Advanced race is 20 RP.

Feel free to use any published Alternate Racial Trait.

Level: Start at level 4. See classes for more details

Abilities: 20 point buy

HP: PFS progression

Traits: 2+1. That bonus one must be a Racial or Regional trait. It would be cool if you could tie it into your backstory.

Drawbacks No.

Alignment: No CE. No exceptions.
So my thoughts on evil. As I feel I am well read in the fantasy genre, one of the most common tropes is 'Is good, good, if good does evil to defeat evil?'. This will be a theme in this game. You can play evil, if you play it right. Sociopath behavior is not what I am looking for, i.e. we will slaughter a town of innocents because we are Ubernaughts! But if you choose to interrogate, harshly, encourage others to sacrifice themselves for you, play very selfishly, that could be construed as evil. Again, player caveat here.

Classes: Start with a 1 level of any NPC class: Adept, Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert or Warrior. This does not count in your 4 levels.

Then take 4 class levels. All classes are legal except Gunslinger.. I reserve the right to say NO to severely broken archetypes. You all do a great job of creating well balanced characters, don't let me down. If you are multiclassing, you should use the Variant Multiclassing rule. I know you expressed an interest in the Summoner class Damien, careful with being too powerful. Maybe you could do an Unchained Summoner, with the regular summoner Eidolon progression.

Feats: All are good.

You will receive one bonus feat. To help with customization, and to balance the varied story settings, you can retrain this feat after each 'Chapter' for free. The feat can either be a teamwork feat (feel free to plan with your friends) or a specific feat that will be available as I move you from chapter to chapter. Some chapters have better options than others, and I will try to adapt to make your character 'fit in' better.

For example, the first adventure will take place <> and you can choose from any of these Broken Link A bit premature here, but I will give you plenty of time to peruse material to make intelligent choices.

Equipment: Start with 6,000 gp.

Hero Points: Not at this time, maybe later. One free reroll per chapter.

Backstory Quick synopsis of the Adventure: you are a very capable group of adventurers that have been together for a number of years. You have a reputation for being very successful using very unconventional means.

Preaching to the choir here, I know.

So your backstory will have two parts. The fist part is your Origin Story. Tell me where you come from before you became an adventurer and how you became an adventure. This can be a shared story as it would be nice to tie it into the group and how you all came together.

The second part is your motivation. Why do you do what you do? That will be big for me as a GM to make sure your character has buy-in for my plot hooks.

Questions or clarification?


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Hey John! Thanks for creating the thread.

Do you have a ruling on create item feats? Can I get half price wondrous items with craft wondrous item or should I save my cash and create them in-game? Thinking about a cloak of resistance and a handy haversack... and maybe some other little things.

Still not sure if I'm going to go with this guy (necromancer cleric) or my summoner.

For necromancer:

  • Never done it before.
  • New character (haven't played this specific PC before).
  • Could be some serious undead fun.

For summoner:

  • Less zoo keeping.
  • Well realized background.
  • Not so reviled by polite society.

I think I'm leaning towards the necromancer. I'll work on the assumption that this is who I'm playing until I change my mind. Zart is a complete PC with background and history and posts! Arimar needs work... so I'll start with him.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Item creation feats are all good. Craft away.


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Thanks! Hope you like my intro post. It's a bit dark... and perhaps a bit... erm... too much? Definitely more PG13 than PG (maybe even MA). I wanted to give an insight into his private life and private motivations for worshipping a goddess like Urgathoa (not the nicest of patron deities!).

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Very dark....

But very good!

Still birthing my character concept. Suddenly feeling as though it pales in comparison... :)


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Noir. Very much so. But we are all adults, so no worries about the PG-13.

Have fun masking your characters!


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Thanks guys! Glad you liked it, Steve.

Heh. I always think 'film noir' when I hear something described as 'noir'.

---

She was all legs as she came into my room. The dame had a penchant for rich men, that much was obvious from her fur coat. But what did she want with me? As she explained things, the crazy broad grabbed me by the tie and held me so close I could hear her pulse.

---

Yeah, that kind of thing. ;-)


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Definitely finding my 'RP legs' with this guy. I'm thinking that this is all happening in Absalom at midnight and then the morning of the day the GM specified (if that's okay, GM). Arimar will head out into the town and eventually meet up with the rest of your characters as you arrive on the scene. Until then, I'll continue to relate his backstory and try to get a handle on his personality using this day in Absalom as the framing device.


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Creative juices are flowing!

Since Urgathoa is fairly universally reviled (outside of Geb), Arimar will be a hidden priest (archetype that lets me hide divine spells as arcane castings). I'm also toying with the Ecclesitheurge archetype. It replaces my armor and weapon proficiencies and gives me equivalent to a wizard's bonded item (except I can choose any cleric spell and any domain spell that my deity has). I'll look odd wearing armor anyway if I'm hiding myself as a sorcerer / wizard, and the versatility that little amulet adds is phenomenal. I lose a d6 from my channel energy, though, which kinda sucks.

GM... would it be okay if I had a tattooed holy symbol of Urgathoa on my wrist? It would usually be covered by make-up (I have the disguise skill and I could 'draw' it out by rubbing off the make-up to reveal the symbol. That would simultaneously make it very hard to deny my true self once it is revealed but also makes it somewhat easier to hide (and very hard to take my holy symbol away). Up to you.

Otherwise, perhaps sewn into the lining of the sleeve of my 'wizardly' robes?


I'm running through some character ideas in my head; I think with the characters everyone else has posted or alluded to I'll gravitate to the skill monkey route as we have Arcane or Divine, Melee or Divine, and arcane covered.

Will post some more later :)


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Are we talking Mage Tattoo? Or just a tattoo as flavor? Either is fine by me, but it might pose some awkward conversations.

Which will be fun!


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

@Mike: I think I've settled on this character. Divine it is from me! I think Steve is still undecided but he was thinking of a melee type (Slayer) and Chris is thinking occultist (which is kind of a skill-oriented character... not skill monkey but they're into skill use and get a number of skill-buffs based on their foci, and they have disable device). I'd say you have room for virtually any kind of character you like! If skill monkey is your preferred, do that. If you want a cleric or oracle, don't let my choice sway you! If you want arcane... I'm only pretending to be that! Summoner or spiritualist? Go for it.

@GM: Just a tattoo as flavor (not really worth a feat). He'll continue to apply make-up to it daily and after each combat location (not every encounter). I'll roll a disguise check when it could become an issue - or you can roll one in secret - rather than rolling every time he covers it up (which would get tedious quickly). I'll add it in to the RP every now and again to keep it fresh in our minds.

@All: So, what does everyone think about the Ecclesitheurge archetype? It's quite the sacrifice, but I think it is thematically appropriate. My current strength is a typical necromancer's strength: tanked to 7. I'm not going to be in the thick of it if I can at all help it, so armor isn't big deal. The d6 on my negative energy channel is less damage to the bad guys - don't worry, I have selective channeling and a charisma bonus of +4 (just don't go overboard with animal companions / familiars) - and it's less healing for my eventual undead horde.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Gremlins ate my post.

Short recap - I like the archetype. Wether it drove your RP or the RP drove your interest doesn't really matter, I am digging the style and the flavor of your character. mechanical stuff is mechanical. We will be optimized enough anyways that any potential shortfall for a choice like that can easily be made up in other areas.

For my character - still struggling with the race. Might just end up going human, because everyone loves the extra feat.

I have no idea why I have this pull to play an Orc, but I do. It seems to be outweighing my optimizer lobe in my brain that just screams pick the highest RP race!!!

If I could come up with a cool idea for one of the other races (fletchlings do seem intriguing, and I have always been intrigued by Aasimars) I will mention it here.

I may run through the alternate Aasimars and Tieflings too just to see if anything bounces on the idea trampoline and doesn't fall flat.

No idea where those random odd references came from.


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

RP is driving most of my choices (and definitely chose those two archetypes for me), but I'm trying to get the RP for the mechanical stuff, too!

---

If you're interested...

Traits

Wary (the bonus feat from the GM!)[/b]:[/b] Chosen for RP purposes. Disguise and sense motive bonus necessitated by a life on the streets of Riddleport as an outcast / downcast Aasimar.

Deft dodger: Needed the reflex save, but fits in perfect with the RP. No additions needed on either side of mechanics / RP!

Magical knack: Definitely chose this for the mechanics. For the RP, he showed promise early on. At the age of 6, he commanded his first undead minion. He wasn't trained as a priest, though (being too young), but was always around the clergy of Urgathoa and their raised undead minions. His first profession was as a swindler (expert class) but even then he showed promise as an acolyte.

Skills

Very broad choice of skills, including what you would need to be a swindler and at least one rank in every knowledge skill. I chose my class skills to round out Aramir as a socially-focused character. This was part mechanical (I have a good charisma bonus and don't want it to go to waste, I also need monster lore to best select my minions) as well as RP driven (hell, I even put a rank into appraise - who does that?).

---

I'll upload a fully-geared Arimar soon for perusal!


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Arimar is here and ready to roll... erm... only a month or two earlier than required. Did I mention that I f+$&ing love character creation? I think I might have.

Please do pick over his stat block (if you feel so inclined) and let me know if I'm missing anything glaring... or if you think something could use improvement.

I'm really looking forward to playing this un-optimized (well, not 100% optimized) necromancer. It's really nice to have some sub-optimal but flavorful archetypes in there (hidden priest and ecclesitheurge) as well as skill and ability choices that reflect roleplaying more than desired mechanics. I had begun to tend away from such choices as my career in PFS progressed: as Mike said, who wants to be that guy at the table, the one who can't hit anything because he focused on profession (jeweler) instead?

The only aspect that I have (shamelessly) over-optimized on was the racial choice. Wisdom + Charisma for a cleric necromancer? Oh, yes please.

John, let me know if you want my Hero Lab (.por) file for this guy so you can verify everything... or have some other evil purpose in mind.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Awesome, love the enthusiasm. If only we could bottle it and sell it Oh right, Monster already did that.

Please so send me the file, not to overlord you, but it will be cool to see.

And as for starting, it doesn't help when you all have 9 hero points, and a reroll, and can't take down the hound! Come on.

I digress, and I also have written 4 parts already. Mild tease

I am finding some high quality 3PP products chrunch wise, but pretty poor graphically.


Male Human Engineer/4 (ding!)

Going to post with my main account so I don't hose myself before I can change the name of that placeholder.

So I have a character idea I have toyed with previously up to level 4. I have also turned this same character into a GM credit baby that has not yet been played in PFS.

The more I think about it.... the more I think it would apply wonderfully in this campaign.

Crunchy: Barbarian/Alchemist hybrid - focusing on rage/mutagen 'hulk smash' part of being an alchemist, not so much the bombs and stuff. extracts would be for helping to enhance the mutagen and rage transformation. (bulls strength, enlarge person, etc)

RP: I am hooked on this idea of a pariah getting linked up with Arimar and the others in the group because they were the only ones who accepted him like family. Not even his own family wanted him. I've got a few ideas on some twists that could make that pretty fun.

He would be smart, or smart enough to dabble in his alchemy, but otherwise very weak in personality. Story-wise it would make sense why he would be so drawn to Arimar as well, like a sheep just waiting for someone to lead him.

**** 2 hours pass - Steve doesn't realize he hasn't posted this ****

So after some thought, this character concept will be a Human Barbarian/Alchemist. I don't want to get caught up in the Incredible Hulk parallels, so I will definitely work hard to take this character a different direction. I don't want to force it, but I don't want it to feel like a big green machine either.

I haven't settled permenantly on this, but I've convinced myself that if I can pull the backstory off right, this is the group to explore this character with.

Good thing we have a few months to nail things down!


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Oh, would love to see your Barbalchemist in action, Steve! Should be a great deal of fun.

RP: Well, he is initially accepted into the Cult of Urgathoa (who he refuses to call a Cult) and they treated him like family (mainly because of his nascent talents). That's absolutely key to him worshipping her and turning him towards the seemingly evil path of necromancy (without actually being evil). His 'own' family is unknown to him. His earliest memories are of himself on the street, abandoned... not even living in an orphanage.

However, as for social acceptance outside of the Cult, absolutely! Love it. He clearly doesn't still go to cult meetings and is in hiding. FYI, don't know what happened there yet to cause him to hide and shy away form the cult, but either it happened after he left Riddleport or it caused him to leave Riddleport - leaning towards the latter. Email me the twists you have, would love to work with you on it... unless you want to surprise me with them.

Interesting that you see Arimar as a leader. I guess I'm still semi in 'Zart mode', thinking of a more timid character. However, as you've no doubt read from my posts, Arimar may be physically weak and likely won't ever enter melee willingly, but he is most certainly not timid.

A few months?! Oh man. That's right. Damn. Blew my load way too early.


Male Human Engineer/4 (ding!)

That's what she said...


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

I set 'em up, you knock 'em down. ;-)

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

I had thoughts today.

Things.

Dark things. Noir

Interesting things.

But I promised myself I would go to bed at a decent time. I have already failed, and so to bed I go.

I will leave you with this tease, and hope to write stories tomorrow. No matter what class/mechanics/crunchy I come up with, I have my backstory.

Noir.

Bonne Nuit.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Love the enthusiasm, Bjorn. Ulfen Barbchemist?

Also re-read the backstory Arimar. Very GRRM in tone.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

I knew "The Outcast" rang a familiar bell. Xull the Outcast.

I will not allow myself to copy, even if inadvertantly. I will find a synonym.

The original concept character name was Hrothgar the Cursed. I already have this alias in my PFS listing. I actually really like that name, and it fits this backstory bubbling in my mind, but I can't have the name in my list twice. Plus if I make it close to Hrothgar the Cursed, I will inevitably post as the wrong alias.

So I will marinate on the name further. Something will come to me I am sure - Maybe after I write some of this backstory up.


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

GRRM? Well, I guess he used to be awesome before he was handed the big bucks and decided he didn't need to write properly anymore. Either way, he's way richer than me and still way better at writing... so I'll take the compliment! Thanks mate.

It's really hard to figure out how a necromancer cleric of Urgathoa is not a complete sociopath. I hope I'm striking the right balance... but there's always time to work on it!

As for synonyms, Steve, just don't choose "the Fallen", that's Arimar's thing... and honestly, I don't mind if you keep "outcast".

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

I'm digging my new name. Going to keep it. It fits so well with the outline I created for my backstory.

I am really excited about this backstory too, so hopefully it doesn't fall flat. It's got some twisted elements to it as well, noir as we have been calling it. :)

Of course, it could all just be awesome in my head, and be terrible once I write it out.

Either way, I'll have fun ;)

Edit: Oh yea, the whole reason I posted this. I know it doesn't matter, because we have lots of time, but I am in meetings the rest of the day. For those of you Damien who is probably itching to see the post I teased at yesterday.


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Argh! Meetings. Time for a flashback, methinks.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Cool name - did you post a backstory or is this yet another tease? Arimar is not the only one reading along. ;)

Can I just say that I have written multiple posts so far, to be prepared to kick this thing off, and Arimar must know my password because your character's actions couldn't be more in step with my outline.

To the others, do not let that deter you nor influence your character choices. One or two coincidences does not an AP make.

So far I count three 'coincidences' that I have written that have already show up. Synergistic. Just saying.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Not yet, very anxious to make my first post. Glad you like the name! Getting out of this corporate level meeting now. Goal is to have the first one up before I leave work.

-Posted with Wayfinder


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Man. Switching between tenses is freaking killing me. Hope it's okay to read. I wanted to use past tense for the flashbacks and keep using perfect tense for the present. Yeesh. My mind just wants to get into a groove. Please forgive any errors you see.

I find it pretty funny that our stories have overlapped, John! Perhaps we've played too much together and have started to 'groupthink'. I'm hoping not to step on any toes and leave things as open as possible for the others to get their own writing in.

Also, I may be presenting my backstory and motivation in this manner - but please guys, do not feel obliged to do it like this (unless the GM mandates it). I just seem to think a bit better this way. It worked for Bugdip, and it's really working for me and Arimar (hope you enjoy it also). I'm getting a genuine hate going for the priests of Pharasma (who I made up) in Riddleport. Bastards.

Hmmm. Just had another idea. Back to stories! Wee!

Erm... sorry for blasting it. Just noticed I'm the only one other than the GM to post on the gameplay thread.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Not anymore!

Been working on that one. I am totally loving your story Arimar - I just hope mine doesn't pale in comparison.

I talked a bunch about manhood in mine so far as well, so that would make that even more awkward.

This is going to be fun - As Arimar said, don't feel obligated or pigeonholed into anything he or I have put up so far. Just having some story writing fun before the real fun begins...

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield
Arimar wrote:
Man. Switching between tenses is freaking killing me. Hope it's okay to read.

I'm am engineer. I am usually doing math with letters, not writing with them...

In all seriousness I'm not sure I would notice the difference because I am so enthralled in the story, unless it was something that was so obvious it smacks you across the face when you read it.

Now I'm all paranoid about myself switching tenses while I wrote...

;-)

-Posted with Wayfinder


Poking in to say that I've still had lots of thoughts going on about fun characters. I'm still leaning towards something vaguely rogue-like class-wise, though knowing myself I'll probably over-analyze things until the last moment with even odds of if I go to a character I've had in mind or something completely new.

For Benaiah, I'm not sure if Variant Multiclass Alchemist really does what you're looking for for your character, unless you're refluffing Rage as a "Mr. Hyde" kind of thing.

Anyway, back to debating characters.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

So. Excited. You. Picked. A. Hell Knight.

I have looked at that class a ton, and I can't wait to see what you've done with it.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

He might not make it as a hellknight... Silk a few plot twists to come... Though now you have me thinking...

I still have time.....

-Posted with Wayfinder

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Re: multicasting - the barbarian/alchemist combo was more about stacking strength through buffs. The old ( non-unchained.... So chained?) Version of the barbarian increased strength and con when you raged. With the strength mutagen and raging I could get upwards of 30 str on a previous version of this build.

I still have some experimenting to do. I hadn't considered actually going the hell knight route, I will definitely be giving that some serious consideration. Back story as conceived so far will still fit...

-Posted with Wayfinder

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Need some groupthink help here -

Trying to figure out how to make Hero Lab let me add an NPC class level first before I add my class levels.

Another note: I'll admit I didn't know what variant multiclassing was, but I think it actually works out perfect for this Barbalchemist build... It lets me focus on alchemist (in the original build it was just a 1 level dip into barbarian, never made it past 4th level) and still get just enough of the barbarian that I want.

The slowdown in overall development is extremely minimal - essentially giving up a feat at 3rd level (to gain rage, a happy trade-off for this build). I'll lose another feat at 7th level, but again, I think thats a small price to pay.

It feels like variant multiclassing is the rule that makes this build work better than I could by just straight multiclassing.


I'm planning on just adding the level, though I'm not sure how it works with variant multiclassing. Worst case, we can add them as permanent adjustments?

I did kind of get the feeling you didn't get how Variant Multiclass worked (I had to look it up myself!) So you'd be an Alchemist / VMC Barbarian? That's pretty interesting and nudges me slightly in a more melee role.

(some of my current class thoughts to come)

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

If I do end up going with this build (99% sure I will now) then Benaiah will be very much a melee focused character. That's not to say you shouldn't focus on melee... See glass cannon comments below...

Full buffs (Mutagen, rage, bull's strength, enlarge person) will put him at a 36 strength (!!!) and a +22 to whatever his damage roll is (via power attack, two handed weapon)

Notes:

-Mutagen is +6 strength due to his ragechemist archetype
-VMC doesn't allow for the secondary class to be the unchained barbarian (at least in hero lab) which means when he rages he gets +4 str and +4 con

I think I am ok with that, there are some things I can do to mitigate the "rage death" problem.

Probably the biggest issue I see so far is overall HP and AC when at full buffs. He is a glass cannon.

I could drop my strength score just a touch and get a few more ability points to shore up my con and wisdom to help with a few of his vulnerable areas.

Oh yea - your first comment about adding the level. With VMC, hero lab recognizes aristocrat as the "main" class, instead of an adder class. I might just have to do the permenant adjustment thing.

Clarification - we are class level 4, with a "blanket" starting point of a level 1 NPC class? or for all intents and purposes we are level 5 characters? (level 1 NPC, then 4 class levels)

I think I just said the same thing twice. I need to go to bed.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Reread everything today - I see Benaiah, your dad was a Hellknight, but you aren't. Yeah, the Hellknight won't help you much with your build.

Sorry about the HL problems, was just trying to impart some cool background into your characters. Glad that you like the Variant MC. It helps your saves a lot too.

Also, wow that Got dark fast.

Rewrites a bit here and there.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

It's really no problem, I love the idea. I am totally using the aristocrat npc base. I think Mike has it pegged, just need to make permenant adjustments. So this will make is 5 hit dice, right?

I guess that scene kinda spoiled some of the backstory twists I had too... Maybe a little anyways :)

It definitely won't be something over bearing in the regular game... But I want it to be part of the flavor.

Still trying to figure out how to handle being such a glass cannon...

I am also still intrigued by working towards the hell knight prestige class. I know it can still work with this backstory, I think I am more worried about how a hell knight is good friends with a cleric of urgathoa though... :)

-Posted with Wayfinder


Still bouncing off ideas while cleaning house, but here's a few to see if the group likes any more than others:

ID Rager (Jealousy)/ Steel Blood- Blood Rager: Literally haunted by the sins of the past (perhaps a dead younger brother whose shade follows him?), this disgraced Taldan noble seeks to make a new life for himself, an almost impossible task/

Pros: A tank idea I've always wanted to try out. Cons: A tad cliche? No disable device and low skills.

"Sojourner": Rebirth Psychic- His soul is unable to find rest, having constantly been reborn over centuries. Fragments of past lives bleed into his conciousness, granting him momentary insights of knowledge and power at the price of losing a bit of his own past and self each time. Sometimes he wonders how much of his personality and memories are still "him."

Pros: Really cool concept. Cons: We have a heavy caster group already, no disable device, etc.

Ateris: Tiefling (dhampir?) Investigator- An outcast of the polite society he was born into, he maintains a foppish demeanor and integrates himself into social circles as an oddity in order to exploit their secrets (a spy?)

Pros: Fills the skill monkey niche. Cons: A bit of extract / mutagen overlap with Benaiah.

"Dances with Death": The last hasn't really been entirely fleshed out: I haven't even settled on a race or class, but the "outsider" warrior poet. Maybe a half-orc slayer, or Inquisitor, or monk variation, or even (a stretch) a goblin rogue. He doesn't seek violence, but violence goes out of its way to find him.

Pros: Beefy character, I get to use "Sound of Violence" song I've been working on, and maybe integrate other songs. Pros: Not really as well formed yet, so it's a bit more of a shallow character idea currently.

I usually tend towards somewhat shallow comedian-esque characters, but the two characters posted have seemed kinda dark, heh.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

I vote for the one whose story you like the best.

Mechanically, A tank-ish character could make for some nice balance, though if I can find a way to bump either my HP or AC significantly, I could probably fill that role.

Also, DD is a class skill for me, and I would be happy to cover that gap for the group. I thought about doing it anyways, but didn't want to overlap with something you might be working on. Just know that option is there if you don't want to spend the points on DD.

Email Chris too about your ID Rager backstory idea - (or I will bump him to check this thread out if he hasn't yet) because there could be some really cool synergy with the idea he came up with and ran by me yesterday.


Male N Human (Varisian) expert 1/Occultist 3 (tome eater)/Swashbuckler (inspired blade) 1 | HP: 35/35 | AC: 20 (15 Tch, 15 Fl) | CMB: +2, CMD: 17 | F: +4 [+6 for cold conditions], R: +8, W: +5 (+7 vs. fear) | Init: +5 | Perc: +7, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft | Panache: 3/3, Inspired: 1/1 | Spells: heightened awareness, reduce person, shield | Active conditions:
Benaiah the Heretic wrote:
Email Chris too about your ID Rager backstory idea - (or I will bump him to check this thread out if he hasn't yet) because there could be some really cool synergy with the idea he came up with and ran by me yesterday.

I'm here already... just reading and trying to catch up. Thanks for the great stories to read on a Saturday afternoon :)

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Glad you like it so far! Arimar is killing it. Mine just looks weird and unfinished so far...

:)

Ok - more random thoughts here. This Barbalchemist build might actually work out even better with the base of the Aristocrat (which so totally fits my backstory).

That NPC class basically opens up a ton of proficiencies that I wouldn't otherwise get. This could help massively with my AC deficiencies, being able to be proficient in heavy armor, among other things.

So I am going to add all of the Aristocrat stuff with adjustments to the file, since it messes with the VMC stuff in hero lab. I'll make sure I give our GM plenty of time to review and make sure I didn't screw something up.


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Mike: Don't sweat our opinions or party balance. Play what appeals most. Worst comes to worst, I take disable device from my expert class and we go from there... or we buy an adamantine dagger.

Chris: I'm glad you're enjoying the read. I definitely went overboard... and then Steve followed suit. Nice to have a partner in crime.

Steve: You don't necessarily know Arimar is a cleric of Urgathoa - though you've probably twigged by now that he's a cleric (and you know he's a necromancer). Summoning the dead vs summoning devils... not too much of a stretch for a former Hellknight, is it? Ends justify the means, they're all just tools, etc.

All: Arimar will probably be relatively friendly to the fellow party members. I think that's key for party cohesion and I would find it difficult to be antagonistic to my fellow PCs for a long term game. I like you guys too much for that. So, the idea will be that you have saved his butt enough times that he considers you close friends (maybe even family). His reactions to strangers, on the other hand, will be vastly different... but he can 'fake' it as required (+12 diplomacy, +10 bluff, what's that 19 charisma like 'under the hood'?).

Please let me know if you would rather your PC did or did not know about his true patron deity. If it will be a deal breaker / issue, then let's see if we can find an RP way around it, or I can change my deity easily enough (doing a mental find-all-replace on existing mentions) or we can have a moment where he is converted to another faith. I'm very happy with either. Urgathoa is an unrepentantly evil deity. I'm doing my best to show how a true neutral cleric (a legal alignment for her clergy) can even exist, and I'm quite enjoying the challenge.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Read that a few times. Almost didn't post it.

Reassured myself that Paizo isn't afraid of... Mature themes.

Hopefully it doesn't make any of you uncomfortable, and even MORE hopefully, you will let me know if it does.

And for the record, Benaiah isn't going to be some devil worshipping sacrificing crazy man...

Big moment/twist #1 coming...


As a followup, I'm 90-something percent sure I'm going to go with the "option 3", which I'm pretty much sticking to an idea I had for a Hobgoblin Earth Kineticist (name in flux, but currently "Malgrim the Poet." He follows the "artistic and introspective brute" trope; I haven't finalized if he really is going to be a poet, but I imagine him as some sort of artist (sculptor definitely aligns with the character as well.)


Male LG Aasimar Paladin 5 / Expert (Swindler) 1 | HP: 51/61 | AC: 23 (12 Tch, 22 Fl) | CMB: +9, CMD: 21 | F: +11, R: +8, W: +11 (& resistances) | Init: +1 | Perc: +7 (darkvision), SM: +4 | Speed 20ft | Smite Evil: 0/2, Lay on Hands: 3/6, Divine Bond: 0/1 | Action points: 12, Reroll: 1/1 | Active conditions: Smite evil, divine bond (keen).

Cool beans! Malgrim sounds great. Always wanted to see how a kineticist would go in a longer campaign. They seem a bit gunslinger-esque (small but reliable short range damage vs touch AC). A sculptor would be way cool. A hobgoblin would definitely fit the 'outcast misfit' meme for our party.

@Robert: Great posts there, mate. Can't wait to interact with you for real! Just waiting for Benaiah to respond and then we can meet up at The Saucy Wench. Don't forget your NPC level!

@GM: For Variant Multiclassing, forgot to ask earlier: I'm assuming that doesn't play into it for our base NPC class. I know Steve's having issues with Hero Lab and doing that, and the rule set doesn't seem to apply to non-PC classes anyway, but I thought I'd double check.


Portraits | Tactical | Hollow Mountain

Correct on VMC for non NPC classes.

Dark Archive

Male CN Human Aristocrat (Chelaxian) Barbalchemist 5 | HP: 57/65 Int: 12/14 | AC: 24 (14 Tch, 24 Fl) | CMB: +13, CMD: 22 | F: +8, R: +4, W: +4 | Init: +0 | Perc: +8, SM: +0 | Speed 30ft (20ft in armor) | AP: 14, Bomb: 7/7 | Rage: 8/8 | [Mutagen] | Healing: 0/10 | Active conditions: Wax in my ears, mutagen, phantom blood, bulls str, enlarge, shield

Still typing out the flashback that makes Benaiah's last post make sense. Have a meeting... back later.

/sigh

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