This is an interest check for Carrion Crown, non-PFS. I am really into the horror theme right now, but am still weighing the time that I can devote to another PBP. Hopefully some of the characters you all can generate will inspire me.
No more is required for consideration than a concept and a single trait chosen from the Carrion Crown Player's Guide. Your character should fit the setting and may have already made a connection with Professor Lorrimor, though that is not necessary yet.
I am looking for 3 players total. A 4th will be added if I can't make up my mind on 3, but I prefer smaller groups. The chosen group will all pick skills and abilities together so that such a group can be effective without me toning down the difficulty too much. I will choose a point buy amount by then, too.
I am into both interesting and powerful builds, but if your concept does not jive with my (unfortunately difficult to explain) visual/tonal image of the theme, then you won't get picked. If you aren't sure, go with your gut and try me.
Any class or race is on the table, including the Occult Adventures playtest, which I have not read through entirely, nor tried, but seems to fit this AP pretty well.
Some example inspiration for this setting, to try and give you a sense of what I might be into:
Edgar Allen Poe
Interview with the Vampire
Castlevania
Pretty Deadly
Salem (yeah, the TV show, despite the sometimes (mostly?) shoddy acting)
I also enjoy some of the better stuff on Creepypasta.
I plan to post pretty slowly so to make the atmosphere good and hone my narrative ability. There may be long descriptive posts and long periods of discussion between characters, player and non. As players you are free to post as much as you like, but I won't appreciate impatience, except in-character if appropriate.
Lastly, I want to say that obviously-flawed and snowflake characters can be great, but sometimes the best characters have flaws and virtues that are not immediately obvious, or develop over time.
It doesn't get any better then an Occult Secret Society vs Vampires...
Dotting with definite interest. Carrion Crown interests me greatly as an AP, and a DM who can lay out why they're interested in it is a pretty good boost to the matter. The Occult Adventures playtest is just the cherry on top. I'll see what I can whip up, conceptually.
How long will you be considering applications? I'm interested, but it can take a while to work out the fluff for something I like. I'd like to play a Changeling Oracle of Life, with the clouded eyes curse and the Subject of Study campaign trait. The idea would be that the thing that attacked the character was her mother when she experienced "the call". She survived and Professor Lorrimor spent some time studying the aftermath of the event. I'll have a more detailed backstory and personality fleshed out over the next couple of days.
A few days at least. A week or two at most. Take your time. Posting a glimpse in character would be helpful, too.
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Dhamphir Inquisitor. Was deemed an outcast and a monster in his town untill Prof. lorry came along. The Prof befriended him and took him in as an "intern" of sorts, taught him a lot about undead, evil, necromancy, and the like. Later on, via a vouching from the prof. He is accepted into a church. (hmm. either Desna, Iomeade, or Sarenrea, not sure... most likely not Sarenrea). Where, while of good heart, could not stand by while his kin, and their progenitors, roamed the earth causing mayhem. He uses the knowledge he learned from the professor, and the training of the church, to overcome and slay the fearful things known as undead. He is quite good at hunting vampires in particular.
I don't see anything about alignment restrictions; do you intend for the party to all be erring on the Good side? Because one of the ideas I'm kicking around involves sort of a mad scientist type with the Reanimator Alchemist archetype. It involves raising undead creatures, and visually I imagine them taking on the appearance of a plague doctor. Not even remotely something a good-aligned character would do, but a morally dubious neutral character, perhaps. It's cool if this is a little too away from what you had in mind; I'm just kinda Notepadding a lot of ideas and that one seemed like it was a little iffy so I thought I'd ask before developing it any further.
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Background-
CEASE THIS FOOLERY AT ONCE! YOU MAKE A FOOLISH MISTAKE!
Everything grew very still and quite, as a man made his way through the crowd, he carried a backpack filled with books, and had a walking stick. With him was a lad with blade in hand, eyes darting all around the gathering. The man spoke again.
This is naught but foolishness! You kill an innocent woman! This child has done less wrong than anyone of us! I have watched them, and spoken to the mother on several occasion. To kill these people would be murder!
From the crowd, faceless voices shout.
He is deaths spawn! What can he ever be but evil? and calls of He is a vampire too! BURN HIM! STAKE HIM!
The professor appears to grow angry
SILENCE NOW! Control your fears or they will control you! These two have been living here since you ran them out, and have done you NO HARM! Use your heads! Stop a moment and THINK! I beseech you, ask yourselves, what have they done to deserve this?
As he speaks many torches are lowered, people begin to glance around, questioning there intents, the frenzy begins to die down... but then the clergyman speaks
DEVIL, DEMON AND DEATH LOVER! MISGUIDER AND BEGUILER! Surely you are this foul beasts Father! he jerks up young Draken.
YOU SEEK ONLY TO SAVE YOUR EVIL ILK! YOU PLAN TO TURN US ALL INTO YOUR SLAVES! The man rants longer, as he rants people begin to frown, and voices start to rise again. But then, as if an epiphany comes to him, the strange man speaks again.
I AM PROF. LORRIMOR, The Leading expert on undead and seeker of evil. I work with many of the church to root out evil and plots before they happen, and you sir I find guilty!
He pulls out a silver holy symbol of Iomeade, pressing towards the clergyman, suddenly the priest jerks away, hissing. The Prof presses on, and the man still flees. Suddenly a light as bright as day appears shining directly over the priest and he stumbles and falls, his wide brimmed hat flies from his head and soon the man begins smoldering.
You are the vampire that taints this town, YOU infused that child with the blood of undeath, You would have them kill an innocent woman, would say that child escaped, and blame any deaths, feedings and the like on him. Well you shall torment this town NEVERMORE! Now, GO TO YOUR ENTERNAL DAMNATION!
As it writhed in agony the vampire spit out a curse, and managed the sputterings of a spell, let you be cursed Lorrimar, let you and your family suffer for eternity! If I am to go to damnation, then I will see you in hell! Then suddenly, the gathering of ravens and crows took flight, and attacked Drakens mother, knocking the torchs from the mens hands and alighting the alter. They pecked eyes, and clawed ears, allowing the flame to grow and begin to burn the woman. Then they flew at the professor, only to implode upon coming near him. But the distraction caused the light to vanish, and the holy symbol to be turned away. The vampire morphed into green gas and escaped, leaving behind an echo of laughter as Draken watched In horror as his mother was burned alive, the flames too strong to be stopped. The screams where forever ingrained into his memory.
The prof fell limply breathing a deep sigh, looked up and said see, I knew those scrolls and training would come in handy one day.... im just glad they worked.
Later, he was given the “key to the town” and apologized to directly by every single towns member. Draken only nodded, he didn’t want to forgive them, he wanted to blame them, wanted to get away from this narrowminded and stupid town. That night he snuck away from his new “family” and caught up with the man that had saved his life.
I want to learn from you. I want to avenge my mother, and make sure nothing like it ever happens again. I want to prove that even people like me, can bring good to the world.
Lorrimar, after a grueling session of questions, accepted. After teaching the child for 5 years, he figured he had learned most he knew to teach for now, and bid him join a church that Lorrimar had ties in. After a long discussion, Draken Accepted, and joined the church to learn to combat undead, and evil, further. He was trained in his deities favored weapon, and taking advantage of his natural agility, taught him how to wield a crossbow, and bow. He learned more about the weakness of the undead, even studied fiends and demons, though to a lesser extent. Eventually, he was sent on his first mission, clean out a small catacomb of any undead and slay the necromancer there, he was accompanied by a paladin and a cleric. He proved his worth that night when he personally slew the necromancer with a crossbow shot to the head. After that he began to study a new weapon, black powder, and firearms anything to help him find, and kill the monster that took his entire world from him. Eventually, a few years after the day he was first left at the church, a letter came. It told of Lorrimars death, and that he sought to gather his friends together for a reading of his will. It mentioned that it was of the utmost important to come. Not more than a day later, Draken put his quest of vengeance on hold. Not more than a day after that, Draken Caladran Lorrimar, set off to the professors home town. A heavy heart and a heavy step followed him the entire way, he was forced to stay away from towns, lest his blood hinder him. He couldn’t help but think, one day, I will be allowed to freely walk where I please, I will prove to the world that a dhamphir can be… good. . Finally he reached the town where the man that saved his life would be buried, the man he looked up to, idolized, a man he called father.
let me know what you think please.
If interested I have a whole Carrion Crown party just finishing the second book, that is need of a new GM.
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Dotting for interest. I'll have to give it some more thought, but I'm leaning towards a medium, probably a human and possibly a child or teenager, who rarely, if ever speaks. When she does speak, it is usually the spirit that she is channeling speaking with her body. As to the traits, I'm leaning towards On the Payroll because he often sought her out to get advice from the spirits.
Let me know if this is okay/there's still room and i'll work on her some more.
I'm thinking an Igor/Quasimodo type character would do well in this atmosphere. The former assistant of a recently deceased mad Wizard/Alchemist/Blah who has now resigned to wander the world with a backpack full of Master's books...
I would love to play in this AP. If picked I would play my Human Cleric with the crusader archtype and the Bless weapons feats tree. His experences working with the professor drives him to help others fight the darkness.
I got this character ready for CC, Rogue Human.
Hmm, maybe a Connan like sorcerer using a serpent bloodline and maybe from Osiron. I will take making good on a promise.
Good or Neutral alignments work best. Evil is possible, but you'll have to have a pretty good reason to want to help the other characters and investigate the doings of other evil beings. Morally ambiguous is fine.
@rorek55 - I like it and I think it fits the setting, but parts of it are a bit cliche. I will certainly read over the changes.
@Kimberly Snow - You seem like you have a good group. I'll keep it in mind, but I've never finished the first part of CC, so I'm leaning towards starting fresh.
@owenstreetpress - That concept sounds interesting. I haven't picked anyone for sure yet, so let me know what you come up with.
So far we have:
Vengeful Dhampir Inquisitor - rorek55
Changeling Oracle of Life - Aestereal
Mute Medium - owenstreetpress
Igor/Quasimodo traveler - Gypsy Mischief
Human Crusader - Eibon Allister
Human Rogue - Vivian Deberth
Sure thing. I did mean only 'a bit', because there are a few good pieces of potential there.
@Nidoran Duran - that idea is compatible, as long as his devices can play nice with the rest of the party, or even take the back seat while more pressing matters are attended.
I'll throw my hat into the ring.
Concept: Female human Varisian gypsy (dirge bard) and follower of Pharasma, who came into contact with the Professor when her husband was killed by undead, whose sad singing ability manifested itself during her period of grief. She believes she has been blessed by her goddess to seek vengeance on the evil undead and put them to rest. Trait: Making good on promise. Social and knowledge skills, buffer, controller, and ranged combatant.
Here's the backstory for that changeling Oracle.
Lutecia couldn’t think about that right now, anyway. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on much of anything for the last two days and nights, and the voices were only getting worse. It’ll have to be tonight. I’ll just step outside, maybe borrow a boat, and row into Graidmere Swamp. I’ll be back by down, no-one will ever know. She stepped down the stairs and before anyone knew better, she was in the swamp.
The swamp was a terrifying place, made even more so since she couldn’t see what was making those sounds. Lutecia moved quickly, trying to avoid the places that smelled bad or that sounded like danger. Still, there was one spot she found she couldn’t ignore. The voices wouldn’t let her, even though it smelled like the fish-markets at the end of the day. She stepped off the little boat to be greeted by a voice.
”Greetings to you. I am Rasmela. You must be my daughter. Step forward, girl. Quickly. Look upon your birthright.” As Lutecia obediently stepped forward, a hunched figure, hair matted with mold and moss, swam into her view. ”Now, girl. Join Kemret and me. We will create magiks the like of which none have seen. Claim your birthright!” The hag reached forward and Lutecia stepped back a pace. ”N-no. I don’t want this. Please…” With a cry of fury, the crone leapt forward and brought her claws across Lutecia’s face. Then there was nothing but blackness.
When she woke up, she was in her bed at home, a strange man talking with her parents. He introduced himself as Professor Petros Lorrimor, and he identified the claw marks as coming from a green hag. After a few minutes of interviewing Lutecia and her parents, he came to the conclusion that she wasn’t human at all, but a changeling. The professor visited several times over the next couple of weeks, leaving behind an address for future correspondence, which Lutecia, eager to learn more about herself, gladly took up.
DM Wren, here is my concept.
N Human Warpriest of Pharasma
The boy was twelve years of age when he came upon their bodies, both still sound in their bed, puncture wounds in the throat. The local priests confirmed that there was no blood in them, that a vampire had taken their lives. The boy's heart hardened that day, his youthful cheer abruptly come to an end. Dead. Forgotten. When the time came to purify, then burn the bodies, he asked to sprinkle the holy water on them himself, and held the torch that lit their pyre.
The priests of Pharasma took him in and raised him from that point. Already being a young adult, and devoid of all his family, he took eagerly to his tasks and studies. He was of course exposed the entire Pharasman ethos, but was especially interested in their views on the undead. On how to return them to the grave permanently. How to fight them. He alternated his studies between the philosophies and dogma of Pharasma and how to fight these creatures of the night for the next handful of years, entering his adulthood.
It just happened one day that he was on his way to Ravengro to gather supplies for the priests when he came upon Professor Lorrimor. The old man had an arm full of artifacts, and was being accosted by a couple of rotting corpses. Zombies, Merick realized. Knowing he was likely no match for the two creatures, but also that he only had to buy time for the Professor, he engaged the two creatures, imploring the Professor to escape. Once it seemed the Professor was far enough away, the young man retreated from the fight, gathering the priests to put down the roaming undead.
The Professor sought him out the next day, effusively thanking the young man, ensuring him that he would not be forgotten. A few more years passed, then suddenly Merick received a summons to the estate of Professor Lorrimor for the reading of his will. Merick is traveling to Ravengro, his final duty to the Professor guiding his steps, his mind racing as to the cause of the man's death.
On looking it over again, Reanimator doesn't quite work as well as hoped; it nerfs bombs and doesn't provide any actual benefits until 7th level, and most APs rarely run past the mid-teens. On top of that, having an army of zombies walking around behind a character is probably not going to go over very well literally anywhere. Instead, I'll be whipping up either an Undead Scourge Paladin of Pharasma or an Undead Bloodline Sorceror (not quite as undead-raisey and dubious, but kind of still a little) at some point when I've gotten bored with Smash Bros.
I've got this guy I wanna throw in there.
Just ignore the numbers. That was from a previous game he was in.
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Having read the class in more detail, I'm not going to use the medium class, it just doesn't fit the concept I want.
Instead I'll be going with the spiritualist, for sort of a "girl and her ghost" angle. The character herself will still be relatively quite, but now she's going to have one unique, creepy, phantom buddy to play with. The jury is still out on the campaign trait, but I was wondering fi you're allowing alternate racial traits from Advanced Race Guide? I'm leaning towards human and I really like the Heart of the Streets alternate trait.
Which reminds me, are we going with two traits (one of which is from the player companion)? And are there any limits on where they can come from?
I ran a rogue named Bert with a personality like Bennie in the Mummy. And yes, he had 20 holy symbols! I would have to revert him to level one though. We didn't get far after the first part.
Bert
Male human rogue 1
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +10; Senses Perception +6
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 11 (1d8+3)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +2
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (1d4+1/19-20) or
rapier +4 (1d6+1/18-20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Traits reactionary, scholar of ruins
Skills Acrobatics +7, Appraise +5, Disable Device +8, Escape Artist +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +6, Knowledge (local) +5, Perception +6, Perform (act) +4, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +7
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ trapfinding +1
Other Gear studded leather, dagger, rapier, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, grappling hook, sack, sack, sack, sack, thieves' tools, 66 gp, 5 sp
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Special Abilities
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Sneak Attack +1d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
@helaman - Thanks for the advice, I will lean towards 4 unless I think I've got 3 that are capable and dedicated. Running your own games doesn't bar you from consideration. I assume a certain amount of resistance to meta-gaming with any player, because of how much games get dropped and it's sorta just part of the game, especially if you are experienced. Also, I don't want to encourage an environment where being a DM bars you from being a player. Especially considering the disproportionate ratio of players to DMs. Plus, sometimes knowing the plot allows you to play along in a way that's more conducive to a good story.
@owenstreetpress - alternate racial traits are fine
I like what I'm seeing, but I'm gunna' leave recruitment open for at least a few more days. Honestly, I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want to run this. I am hoping that this thread can do two things: The first is to generate more inspiration for running Carrion Crown. The second is to give you all a chance to vent out more character concepts, because it seems like there is a lot of cool stuff going around on this forum with an unfortunate amount of realization. That being said, I've got another PBP, an IRL WotR and might have a 5th ed game or two opening up in the coming few weeks. Obviously, I'd rather not over extend myself, but I find PBP easy to juggle, especially with how much free time I have at work...
You will get 2 traits total, including the story trait.
You can have one drawback to purchase a third trait.
I humbly submit Dr. Stefan von Herzog, physician.
I have attempted to play Dr. Herzog in two Carrion Crown PbP games with this character, but both fizzled out before we actually got to Harrowstone.
Character concept: Esentially Dr. Van Helsing from the original novel Dracula. He is a physician, and also a necromancer who hates the undead, who studies necromancy in order to learn how best to un-make them.
Depending on your full character creation rules, I may need to tweak his stats a bit.
I can vouch for Dr. Stefan..great character and potential. Too bad my CC game died due to RL issues.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32
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Concept: An orc (yes, full orc, not half!) from Belkzen. She would have the Chance Savior trait, having saved Lorrimor from a group of more hostile orcs while he was exploring across the border. A respected apprentice shaman among her people, she encountered Lorrimor beset by a rival hold's scouting party, and stepped in to save him (despite the usual orc tendency to let the weak suffer their fate) when goaded on by a spirit of battle to show her worth against enemy warriors. Upon receiving word of Lorrimor's death, the young orc sets off for Ustalav, despite that land's hostility toward her kind, for two reasons mainly. First of all, she hopes to receive some kind of inheritance from the human that she can bring back to her people. Second, her spirit whispers to her to make the journey, eager to see her test her mettle in the haunted lands of Ustalav.
Mechanically she would be an ACG Shaman with the Battle spirit, either vanilla Shaman or the Witch Doctor archetype. I also think it would be interesting, as the player's guide notes, to play an orc in a land that so clearly wants nothing to do with them.
If that doesn't sound right, I also have an idea for a Swashbuckler or Arcane Duelist archetype Bard from Ardeal who wants to see Ustalav's pre-Whispering Tyrant glory return. This would most likely be a human, but I can also see them being a tiefling, or even a samsaran who possessed some of the hero Ustav's noble blood in a past life.
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Alright, I don't have all the details worked out yet (like a proper name, though her parents often called her Bug, so I'll just use that for now) but here's the gist of the character. She's 15 (the minimum age for an adult for humans so we don't have to bother with ability modifiers) and I dropped the Heart of the Streets alternate racial trait since it doesn't really work for the background.
Human female Spiritualist
Bug grew up in Tamrivena, where her parents were scholars of the occult who knew Professor Lorrimor and often worked with him. Several years ago they died unexpectedly while in his service, and the professor was kind enough to help her out by providing her with a modest stipend so she could keep the old house and not end up destitute (On the Payroll campaign trait).
Her parents were... macabre, and inclined to keeping Bug away from "normal" children and bringing a lot of odd things home with them (think Addams Family). As a result, Bug grew up in a haunted house and has had more contact with ghosts and other spirits than with mortals (Spirit Sense faith trait). As a result of this she's very hard to frighten (Unafraid region trait). However, she isn't terribly good with people; she's shy and does not speak much and then barely above a whisper (Anxious drawback).
Growing up around so many spirits, it is little surprise then that she attracted the attentions of a phantom a few years ago, not long after her parent's deaths, actually. This phantom is a spirit of hatred, and it revels in destroying those which might harm it's mistress. The combination of the phantom and the general "creepiness" of both Bug and her home has kept people from really bothering her, and she hasn't spent a great deal of time out in the world yet, but she liked old Professor Lorrimor and so she packed up some belongings, hired a carriage, and headed to Ravengro when she received notice that she was in his will.
Lastly, I want to say that obviously-flawed and snowflake characters can be great, but sometimes the best characters have flaws and virtues that are not immediately obvious, or develop over time.
I tend to find over the years that the best characters for me tend to develop over time and are not so pre-planned as people try and make characters these days. I had a wizard that took the track feat, a rogue kid that ended up becoming a baron but loved his cow Bessie and another whom was a mime.
@brvheart - I can get really excited about builds too, but I think really good stuff can come from a lack of planning. You gotta start somewhere, though. Care to give me a sample of what you're thinking for your rogue?
what kind of Stat generation will you use?
@Wren - with pbps it's important not to over stretch yourself. You want the game to fun because it IS a fair amount of work. It's as much work as you want to make it.
Check out my own campaign (and obsidian portal site) if you want for possible inspiration under my GM alias.
I am going to try and be a little more serious with this iteration of Bert. He originally went here with his friend Ernie and he worshiped the frog god, Kermit. We played the last time in the Wilderlands and I am not all that familiar with Golarian beyond the area around the Shackles.
Beni's background "A small, thin thief motivated by greed and avarice, Beni Gabor was a man of superstition and an opportunist, seizing whatever chance he could to ensure that he walked off free of trouble and laden with swag. Throughout his life, Beni stole from virtually everyone that he could, his thievery earning him the worst trouble once he went too far and was compelled to enter military service so as to escape the ramifications."
Like Beni, Bert grew up stealing everything he could get his hands on and found that churches were easy marks, but Bert is not a bad guy he is just a thief. Having no faith of his own, he collects holy symbols hoping that one will protect him when needed. I hope to have him find some faith on this adventure and latch on to one deity at least, but not too much! He is a thief after all! If he can find a friend to latch on to so much the better!
Point buy. Either 15 or 20, depending on what and how many players.
I'll build Lutecia for 15, that way, the extra points are a nice surprise if they happen.
Concept: Ustalav has always been a dangerous place, and Cecilia knows this far better than most. Growing up, she found that her mind was her most powerful tool, as it allowed her to do things that, well, probably shouldn't have been done. At first, she thought that she possessed some kind of arcane magic, and went to go search for teaching - but she'd never been able to cast a spell normally, and it took her years to realize that she was a Psychic. At that point - fearing the powers of her mind - Cecilia's superstitious parents cast her out. She was eventually guided to a new home by a man known as Professor Lorrimor, who'd been quite interested in her unusual talents. Ever since them, Cecilia's been focusing on training herself to use her powers better, so that one day she'd be Making Good on Promises and returning that favor... but the wild land of Ustalav are not always kind enough to allow a girl's mind to go unscathed, particularly when she's so sensitive to the world around her.
Definitely interested. I'm probably going to run some sort of harrower (the prestige class), but I'm still definitely debating which class to take as entry. Leaning towards a blood arcanist, but I'm still debating. Fluff to come.
I would like to apply with this character.I did use her in different Carrion Crown campaign before, but the campaign got stuck extremely early: On the morning of the very day after we arrived in Ravengro.
Previous gameplay thread
Previous recruitment tavern rp (I was not accepted into that one but I made some posts I was actually quite proud of)
The name of the main account is Feuerrabe.
*Waves at Narah*
I can vouch for Dr. Stefan..great character and potential. Too bad my CC game died due to RL issues.
Aww. Thanks!
BTW, your CC game got father than the other one I played in.
Well, looks like we're in good company. :)
*waves back*