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Dot, currently busy at work but I'll throw up my stats real quick.
To all of my games: As predicted with the holidays coming up, my posting will become sporadic until the new year rolls around. I will still be checking in at infrequent times, but I cannot commit to checking daily. Please ping me on Discord if a response is needed, or GMPC me as necessary.
Drask Umbra | Guild Questionnaire:
For what reason does your character become an adventurer? What motive keeps them going?
Drask was forced to be an adventurer by the circumstances of his birth and childhood. The only skills his tortured youth taught to him was how to kill and how to survive. He is kept going by his survivor's guilt when his twin brother Kuvar sacrificed himself so that Drask may live and experience more of the wider world. He still carries Kuvar with him, in a much more literal sense than most would think, and lives not only for his brother's sacrifice but also for his brother to experience the wider world with him. How did your character first hear about the House of Fate and Fire? Drask was referred over upon being arrested. When he originally came to the city he lived like he did in the wild, just taking whatever he needed and anybody who tried to stop him was shoved aside. He was confronted by local guards who found his combination of uneducated barbarism and calm disposition confusing, luckily allowing them to understand that he was simply too ignorant to understand how civilization works. When Drask inquired what he may do to earn 'money' so that he didn't upset anybody, he was referred over to the House of Fate and Fire. Why did your character decide to join the House over other options available to them? (Feel free to come up with some liberties on this one, whether they were recruited or tried out for the guild) How does the House fit into your motives as an adventurer? Drask isn't one to obsess over decisions. He heard about the House of Fate and Fire first, so he went to them. They've treated him well and he's seen no reason to leave. Drask doesn't make anything more complicated than it needs to be. The adventuring parties live in dormitory-style apartments. The rooms are quite spacious, and the living/kitchen area is shared. What does your room look like? What kind of roommate are you? Drask's room is messy, although he has learned to at least to keep his mess in his own space. However much clutter accumulates he does keep his space sanitary, i.e. no leftover food or anything else that may lead to smells. Drask is a quiet and unabashed roommate. He does walk around butt-naked a little too much for some people's liking, but he's pretty quiet as a roommate while being at least passingly friendly to anybody that wants to talk, so as long as one isn't put off by his appearance he makes a fairly good roommate. While Teladora insists that adventurers don't need as much rest as normal people, Layla disagrees. The lamia makes sure that all parties get at least a week of downtime between adventures unless they ask for less. What does your character do to unwind? Drask spends about half this time training and keeping in fighting shape, as well as volunteering his time to the guild to train other less experienced fighters. But when his training is taken care of, he likes to travel around and experience more of the city and the surrounding areas. Trying out food he has never had, looking at art, going sailing, watching street shows. It's almost uncanny how somebody who looks like such an uncultured barbarian spends so much time consuming the local culture. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Also, it doesn't seem to want to post the URL in the name line like I thought. It's formatted right but it just doesn't show there. Is there a trick I'm forgetting? If not, the mythweavers link will still be the first thing you see on clicking my name. Headers do not appear in recruitment threads, but they will appear in discussion and gameplay threads.
Thank you for the detailed responses, definitely helps me narrow down what I am interested in exploring. So, focus on high fantasy, and an aversion to political intrigue. I can delve quite deeply into the political intrigue rabbit hole myself, so it's good to know to avoid that particular potential snare. With that in mind the original character I was considering would be an excellent fit. The character I would like to bring to the table is Drask Umbra. I was playing him in a very excellent Shattered Star game before it unfortunately went belly up. I was even fortunate enough that one of my fellow players, Esriri, made some very cool 3D models of Drask. I would need to adjust his crunch, if and when the time comes, but the background and personality/appearance would be largely the same (perhaps adding a little between his escape and where he is now as a successful level 8 adventurer). Drask was born into a primitive tribe as a tortured plaything, and all that he has learned about life and civilization he has learned as an adult, so he brings a very outside perspective to most situations. He also deals heavily with survivor's guilt, especially since his twin brother who sacrificed himself for Drask still actually manifests himself through his class abilities (with the very cool Ankou's Shadow archetype, as well as his rage manifesting from a barbarian dip). Let me know if Drask seems to have some ideas you would consider interesting in exploring. I ended up developing a pretty intricate personality for him and I would love to chance to breathe life into him again. Edit: As far as other potential applicants are concerned, in combat Drask will fulfill the role of a frontliner. He's mostly slayer, but a fairly tanky build (as far as slayer's go), so he would be first into the fray in most situations.
Hmm...color me curious, color me curious indeed. I do have a question or two before jumping in, however. 1. Could you explain, at least on a high level, what kind of themes/genres we may expect to see in your game? Do you want to run a dark and gritty game or something more upbeat, do you like political intrigue or more about the adventures, black and white depictions of good and evil vs shades of grey, etc. What can we expect for the feel of your game? 2. What is the setting for this campaign? Is it Golarion, or something homebrew? If the latter what details are there to be had about it? 3. For the "character-driven" format (which is something I'm a huge fan of by the way, here's looking at you Avatar series), do you prefer us to give you a feast of background options to pick from and surprise us with story arcs later, or do you want to work with the players on where their story might go pre-game? That's all I have for now. There is a certain character I have in mind who I would love to see set free in a character-driven campaign, but I want to make sure he would thematically fit with the kind of feel you're going for before suggesting him.
Ah, I suffered far too many of those myself, nasty business. I hope you feel better. Best of luck all!
While I like the idea I have come up with I think I am likely going to back out of the running on this one. I just don't think I can play a credible evil character. I also struggle with squaring evil motivations that aren't either extremely convoluted or just "haha I'm evil!" Which is why I decided to go down the route of tragedy. In another life my character could easily have been the heroic crusader of a WotR game. I got some motivation from Dracula in the Netflix adaption of Castlevania, evoking the reaction of "I see why you act this way and it is tragic, but that is no excuse and you must be stopped."
I have returned, and I humbly present Jatev Talraniex for your consideration. A tragic story with destructive punctuations, his hunger and cunning will ensure he leaves this world with a legacy. Answers to many of the below questions are within the linked alias, but I will also answer them directly here for ease of reference. Background Questions: 1. What is your character’s name? Jatev Talranix 2. How old is your character?
3. What would somebody see at first glance (i.e. height, weight, skin color, eye color, hair color, physique, race, and visible equipment)?
4. What additional attributes would be noticed upon meeting the character (i.e. Speech, mannerisms)?
5. Where was your character born? Where were you raised? By who?
6. Who are your parents? Are they alive? What do they do for a living?
7. Do you have any other family or friends?
8. What is your character’s marital status? Kids?
9. What is your character’s alignment?
10. What is your character’s moral code?
11. Does your character have goals?
12. Is your character religious?
13. What are your character’s personal beliefs?
14. Does your character have any personality quirks (i.e. anti-social, arrogant, optimistic, paranoid)?
15. Why does your character adventure?
16. How does your character view his/her role as an adventurer?
17. Does your character have any distinguishing marks (birth-marks, scars, deformities)?
18. How does your character get along with others?
19. Is there anything that your character hates?
20. Is there anything that your character fears?
GM I'm doing some build brainstorming and I ran into a rules question for you: If I combine Spellslinger and Siege Gunner, would I be able to apply the Targeted Blast deed from Siege Gunner to the Arcane Gun ability from Spellslinger in order to add additional damage to area spells fired from my gun? I've quoted the abilities below and bolded the areas that are most relevant. Targeted Blast:
At 1st level, when using a firearm or siege engine that targets an area rather than a specific creature, the siege gunner can spend 1 grit point to focus the brunt of the blast on a single creature within the target area. The target creature takes 1 additional point of damage for each level the siege gunner possesses. This is precision damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit. At 5th level and for every 5 levels the siege gunner possesses beyond that, she can select an additional creature to target with this bonus damage. Targets must be selected before any attack rolls or saving throws are made. Arcane Gun:
The spellslinger gains the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) feat, and one or two of his firearms can be arcane guns. Arcane guns are normal one-handed or two-handed firearms in the hands of others, as they were normal firearms before the spellslinger imbued them with magic. In a spellslinger’s hands, they both fire projectiles (bullets and pellets) and cast magic. At 1st level, the spellslinger decides whether he wants to have one or two arcane guns at a time. If the spellslinger chooses to have only one arcane gun at a time, spells fired through the arcane gun that require an attack roll have a ×3 critical hit multiplier.
A spellslinger can cast any ranged touch attack, cone, line, or ray spells through his arcane gun. When he casts through the arcane gun, the gun’s enhancement bonus (if any) is a bonus to the spell’s attack rolls or to the spell’s saving throw DCs. Yet there are dangers inherent to this method. If any of the spells’ attack rolls result in a natural 1 (a misfire), or a natural 20 is rolled on any saving throw made against the spell by a target (an overload), the arcane gun gains the broken condition. If the arcane gun already has the broken condition, the gun explodes. When a gun explodes, it lets loose a blast of force, or if the spell has the acid, cold, electricity, or sonic descriptor, it deals that type of energy damage instead. In the case of spells with multiple descriptors, roll randomly among the descriptors to determine the type of damage dealt by the blast. The blast is centered on a single intersection within the spellslinger’s space (spellslinger’s choice) and deals 1d6 points of the appropriate energy damage or force damage per level of the spell cast. Any creature within the blast other than the spellslinger can make a Reflex saving throw to halve the damage. The Reflex save DC is calculated using the spell level of the spell being sacrificed. A spellslinger can attune his arcane guns at the start of each day. That attunement lasts until the spellslinger attunes to a new gun, even if a formally attuned gun is destroyed. My interpretation is that the abilities can be used together, but I wanted to ensure that is the case before I decide to go with Siege Gunner, as it is definitely not a strong archetype choice even with that ability working with Spellslinger. Edit: I suppose in addition I'll ask if you think there's any chance we will be able to use siege weaponry? It won't be make-or-break, but I thought it may come up once or twice since it's a war setting. Edit 2: In addition, what do you think about the Scattershot deed from Siege Gunner applying to spells? Scattershot:
At 3rd level, if the siege gunner has at least 1 grit point, she can increase the effectiveness of scattering shots from hand-held firearms and blast shots from siege engines. The cone radius of scattering shots or blast shots increases by 5 feet for every three levels the siege gunner possesses (to a maximum of 30 feet at 18th level). I think this language seems more restrictive to certain kinds of attacks, but wanted to ask to see your interpretation and if you would let it apply to cone-shaped spells.
I have been slowly retracting my claws from the boards, but this premise is one far too interesting to pass up. Color me curious! GM, you imply this story will be mostly homebrew yes? Would you be able to describe from a high level what kind of genre(s) you will be exploring? It is probably a safe assumption to assume some heavy combat based on the context and your content warning, but what else may we expect? Political intrigue? Dungeon diving? Network building? Charting unmapped areas? Just wanting to get more of an idea of what I'll be getting into. That being said, I tossed around several ideas, but I do think I know the build I'm going to aim for. Wizard (Spellslinger)/Gunslinger. It seems like a combination with devastating offensive potential, and I don't think I've ever had such an idea for a pure glass cannon before, so I'm very excited about it! Will definitely work nicely with a "wants destruction and to watch the world burn" motivation, I'll start drawing up character motivation/personality/background tomorrow. Any thoughts on the initial concept are definitely welcome.
Everon is a pretty old elf and likely was born in Kyonin, but after gaining his powers and becoming an agent of the heavens he doesn't really settle down anywhere. He might have just come off of helping to close an open rift to the abyss, and he received orders from a solar angel like "Your next mission is to assist this group in their assault on the Spires of Xin Shalast, here is what we know of their mission..." Keeping it pretty light and up to your interpretation, GM. I don't want you guys to have to worry about getting my backstory into the narrative, I am more than happy being a supporting character :)
So just doing some brainstorming for more character background... I'm thinking of keeping it pretty light. I have a strong idea for the personality, which will let me bring the character to life and enjoy roleplaying, but I don't expect you all to invest in his background while you're so late in the campaign. As for reasons why we would meet up, since Everon is essentially a soldier for the heavens, I believe I can use his appearance to help alleviate a question that always comes up when the party is trying to keep the world from being destroyed or taken over: Why aren't the powerful good-aligned outsiders stepping in to help? Ta-da! The greater angels recognized how important the work of the party was, and by sending somebody that's semi-mortal it can help avoid some of the political issues of just flooding the material plane with outsiders, helping to avoid a war of escalation. Does that seem like a decent idea?
Alright I have gotten a great deal more work done on my character, Everon Mitharian. Spells have been chosen, and I have spent a great deal of my character wealth, and feedback/ideas for both are highly appreciated. Right now I've gone the route of "don't even bother trying" with my AC, hoping that flight and some defensive buffs can keep me alive, although I might need to find some more of those defensive buffs if I want to pull that off. I've also carefully toed the line with my spell choices, knowing that I specialize in necromancy, and firmly stayed away from any evil spells. Perhaps the most disturbing spell I chose is Waves of Blood, but that's actually a conjuration spell that creates the blood it uses. Any and all thoughts are appreciated, as well as any questions about how the build functions. I will start to write up the fluff later this week, but I have to prepare for my homebrew campaign so I might not be able to get the background done until next week.
Alright, I have gotten a fair amount of work done on my character. This is going to take me several days to complete since it is a high level spellcaster that is being made from scratch. I have stuck with the witch for my player, although I dropped the bard companion. The concept I have thus far is a Witch with the Synergist archetype who has a Cassisian Angel familiar. Due to how these angels look like winged helmets, and how my character will be "fused" with this angelic helmet (as opposed to simply "wearing" it), I got a lot of my character inspiration from Dr. Fate. I plan on my character himself to not be the courageous adventurer type, but he made a pact with an angel (reason TBD, perhaps spare a loved one from taking his place, or resurrecting them?) and now he has agreed to let his body be used as a vessel/weapon against evil. My character thus far, obviously incomplete at the moment, but definitely open to your feedback and thoughts. My crunch if focused on debuffing enemies, with some choice buffs thrown in and the occasional damaging spell. My DCs and ability to pierce SR and versatility to get around immunities will be very high, and I plan to cripple the enemies in order to reduce the damage the party takes and make it easier to take them down. I will have a particularly potent defensive ability for the party though: the combination of the Protective Luck and the Soothsayer hexes. This means that the entire party (except myself) will have a Protective Luck hex automatically activate when they get attacked, greatly increasing all of your survivability for the first few rounds of combat. And both abilities are at will, so I will refresh them at the end of every fight. Other than that I'll be throwing slumber hexes at enemies with bad will saves and ice tomb hexes at enemies with bad fort saves. Yet to pick my spells, but definitely going to have a focus on curses and other (non-evil) necromancy spells.
GM, any response? I'm tentatively considering a witch with a bard companion, but I need to know my options.
Hmm...hmm hmm hmm...this one is certainly going to be a challenge. Thordax and Rexil look to be covering the frontlines with lots of damage dealing, while Praxim is doing tons of ranged DPS. Lym is a full arcane caster who does primarily damage, but also has a little bit of battlefield control. Tomaru has an impressive litany of buffing as well. Hmm...GM what limitations are there on race and class? The party looks pretty old-school so I don't plan to do something crazy, just want to know what my options are. And judging by Praxim/Rexil, leadership is on the table as well?
Oh, very important question that I somehow forgot: 6) GM, what are the character creation rules?
Hey everybody! I am aforementioned player. Glad to be on board! So a few roleplaying and mechanical questions to get my character creating started off: 1a) What role does each party member fulfill in combat?
2a) What role does each party member fulfill out of combat?
3) As a follow up to 1 & 2, is there any kind of build you guys would like to see join your party? This is more searching for personal opinions to get some options on the table. 4) I have never actually played through this adventure path (beyond just the introduction of the 1st book), so I am largely unfamiliar with the story. I could find your previous gameplay threads and read through, but I'm unsure when I would have the time for such a hefty read, and if anybody would be willing to give me a high-level summary that would be greatly appreciated. 5) Since I am joining in the home stretch, I know that it would be easier to have me as a "supporting character" rather than a "main character", since I don't have a deep history with this campaign and this party, unless everybody really wants to commit to the legwork to get my character deeply entwined in the plot. I am fine with either path, and more than happy to play a supporting character. Please let me know your thoughts on this, as it will affect my character's background and motivations.
Alright I have Zed Ulmin updated with the character creation rules and powered up to level 12. Will likely tweak some things in the final build based on party composition, but he will remain largely the same: A Pharasman Inquisitor who is the bane of all things undead, using a litany of buffing and utility spells to make himself a powerful melee force. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns, or would otherwise like to see anything else from my submission!
CampinCarl: May I see Zed's crunch updated to 12th level? Thanks. Will do, I should have time tomorrow to get him updated. How do you feel about variant heritages?
Sometimes the stars align. Years ago one of the best PbP games I was in was a Carrion Crown game. Utterly fantastic GM, and a set of players who were together from level 1 to level 9, and many truly great role-playing moments. Unfortunately the GM had to stop playing on the boards, but to this day I still reference that campaign as one of my favorites and it had some of my best role-playing. I would love a chance to continue with the same character, Zed Ulmin, self-loathing Dhampir Inquisitor (Kinslayer) of Pharasma. All of his backstory and personality is there, and you can even peruse his posts to see how his role-playing would be. Let me know if you would like to see his crunch adjusted to your character creation rules before making a decision.
Congrats you guys, have fun!
I have returned from my busy weekend. I see I've missed...about 114 posts, so I think I will let what roleplay I have done thus far speak for itself. I believe I've adequately represented my character and myself, so I will wait to see what decisions are made. If there are any questions or concerns about myself or my character I am here and following along and happy to answer them. This is the most competitive recruitment thread I have seen in a few years, I don't envy the decisions GM Euan will have to make. Best of luck everybody!
I have an incredibly busy weekend planned, so Tiasar will drift into the background for the time being. I am still available for any direction questions.
Alright, I have returned with my submission completely and ready to review. Here he is linked again for ease of reference, Tiasar Soseshtian. The only thing that is not 100% complete is his wealth and gear, but it will remain largely the same and won't have any impact on the character build or fluff. I'm very excited for a chance at this game! I'm going to respond to particular parts of the recruitment post, putting it all in a spoiler to avoid inserting a wall of text on the thread. Initial Post Responses:
Do not worry what the others are playing as it doesn’t matter...Build what you want to play. Sounds good! Tiasar is my oldest and most cherished character and I know I will have a blast playing him in such a classic adventure path. Also the summoner wizard is my favorite build to play, so mechanically he will be enjoyable as well! I want a brisk game, so please carefully consider your commitment. That sounds wonderful. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am more than capable and willing to post multiple times a day, and I will likely set up RSS feeds to get instant notifications about new posts. Please create your character following the standard Pathfinder rules... Done, everything is in the character sheet and ready to go. For reference I took the "Scholar of the Ancients" campaign trait. You’ll start with 200 gp in your pocket, thanks in part to a successful event in your recent past...Whatever it is, please mention it in your background. Done, I have included it in the "Public Background" spoiler. I have also included a personal accounting of the story in Tiasar's journal, under the "Journal" spoiler. If accepted this spoiler will have more and more entries added to it to chronicle his journey. Hopefully I will get to fill it with many adventures! Please write a description (what do people see?) along with a semi-public background (what would someone with a Knowledge, Local DC 15 (link) know about you?). Please also write a detailed background. Done, see the relevantly named spoilers for details, although I apologize for the length of the background. When I was updating this character for the Golarion setting I did a great deal of setting research and background development. I am far more interested in who you are than what you are. In selecting a party I’m going to look more at the background than the statistics. Tiasar is definitely made to be a character rather than a statblock. With a GM who is so invested in the characters over the numbers, I know I can bring out this old cherished character and have a good time with him. Campaign Info tab information I have read over the Campaign Info tab in detail and agree with everything said, from formatting to commitment to expectations to mechanics. No issues, everything looks good. Tiasar Soseshtian, I see a drawback which is not required for three traits, but I like it if you decide to keep it. I’m also keen to see what you’ve been doing lately, since leaving Kyonin. Oh, and if you haven’t seen it before, you might have some fun with the spell Fastidiousness with this personality. I really like drawbacks, and I always thought Sheltered was a great choice for Tiasar. He is going to come into this as a "new adventurer", meaning he has never gotten into a real fight or even taken lethal damage before. It's going to be a lot of fun! For what he has been doing recently, please see the "Journal" and "Public Background" spoilers. I also plan to continue adding journal entries if accepted, and hope to chronicle the entire journey :) Fastidiousness...wow I can't believe I've never heard of that spell. I love it, I love everything about it. I almost feel like I'm trolling by using one of my precious spell slots on it, but what the hell, that spell is just too perfect not to take. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let me know if you have any questions or concerns GM Euan. I am a very committed poster who has been starved for games lately and I would absolutely love a chance to be in one of your games. P.S. I will do some roleplaying with the others once I have another chance to post later tonight :)
GM Euan is running RotRL, a campaign I've never done and had just recently said is one I really need to get under my belt? Oh man I would be a fool not to apply! I'm also really excited for a campaign that will be running at a brisk pace. While I have become accustomed to the 1/day standard, I definitely have the availability and desire to be posting much more frequently. Especially now since so many of my games have dried up due to Covid and have left me with tons of room for new games. I've been trying to get back into the types of characters I love playing, and I think this would be an excellent time to break out my most beloved character that I have ever made (and the very first one I played in a tabletop game), Tiasar Soseshtian. Tiasar has existed in various incarnations over the past decade, but this version is one that has a history and motivations deeply rooted in Golarion lore. I think when I was writing his background I had about a dozen different wiki pages open. It's a character I've done a ton of work on, and he has a complex personality and character motivations that I know are fun to interact with in a campaign. I will get Tiasar updated with the specific stipulations for this campaign and let you know when he is ready, although he will be largely very much the same as he is now, so feel free to peruse and review. I am really really excited about this one, thank you for running GM Euan!
Although I don't see Uthred's fluff, I know it's an old character so he probably has it lying around somewhere. And it looks like Oriol does have fluff on his character sheet now.
It's where his mother grew up, so he went there looking for answers. He doesn't have any kind of lead on the witch that killed her, but figured her birthplace would be a good start. Since the witch was never named it should allow you to pick a suitable antagonist to fill the role :)
Well Sir Longears you have once again struck the nail right on the head! While driving this morning I was giving Nutar more thought and I have a first pass at my finalized character concept. I present, now finalized with background and personality, Nutar Sanguyak. The one thing I could not incorporate was the Ash subdomain. Not sure how concerned I am for a couple of reasons: 1) It doesn't even do anything until level eight, 2) A huge percentage of the fire domain deities grant ash as a subdomain anyways, and 3) The rules for druid domains only restricts taking metal as a subdomain, otherwise you're free to pick from the given list. That being said there is no shortage of volcanoes in Taldor, so it wouldn't be too hard to work into the background, although I think it would effectively just exist to justify the subdomain and wouldn't impact the character much.
I definitely want this character to have some internal conflict going on. A hot-tempered druid, young but wise despite his years, acts emotionally but is self-aware about it, knows what kind of decisions he should be making but struggles to actually follow through. Bah, I could rant for paragraphs about philosophical points but I think I'd mostly only be making sense to myself. I think I have a very VERY strong idea for the personality, I just need to make a background to fit. Should have it done tomorrow or the next day.
1) Sir Longears has the right of it. The number in parenthesis represents the number of ranks in a skill, so I put a dash for wild empathy. 2) I plan on my character being highly spiritual and to pay homage to most deities, with more of a respect for neutral deities, and recognizing that the more extreme aligned deities help to balance each other out and do serve important purposes (although there are exceptions, such as Rovagug). 3) Uhh, nope. I just got comfortable with it from the cleric I was making, and it looks like there were no subdomain restrictions for druids so I grabbed it. I'll see if I can work it into the character.
I think a good place to pull inspiration from for this character and his seemingly conflicting class abilities is the firebenders in Avatar. The particular scene I'm thinking about is when Zuko uses the firebreath technique Iroh taught him in order to keep himself warm in the north pole.
Here is my character thus far, Nutar Sanguyak. Druids are definitely out of my comfort zone...in fact I think I've basically never played one. Probably going to be far from an optimized build, but hey it should be interesting. Any thoughts and ideas are much appreciated, be it for the fluff or crunch. I haven't written down any fluff yet.
I do like the idea of a young druid, one who has a serious bone to pick against witches and is impatient in his pursuit to hunt them down. I'm thinking he would start as a CN druid and would learn to mature over the course of the campaign.
I'm still early concept, definitely open to ideas. I just know that mechanically an arctic druid would fit well and it shores up the gaps in the party quite nicely, and that the Player's Guide even recommended it as an archetype to take. All I have so far is that he is some kind of "Arctic Witch Hunter", traversing their terrain and firing fire magic at them. Not sure why he would be in Taldor at this time, open to suggestions!
Well I've been chewing over the idea more and more, and trying to figure out how to make things thematically fit, and overall I'm unhappy with the Onos cleric idea as well. Not sure if I'm a perfectionist or just have ADHD, but here we go! I realized how much we were lacking in survival skills, so I'm going to shore that up. Half-Elf Arctic Druid, casting focused, taking the fire domain and the Vigilante Witch Hunter campaign trait. Acting as a guide in the frosty north and someone with a bone to pick against the evil arcane casters of the north, for a reason that is yet to be determined. Edit: Maybe human actually.
Indeed Longears, although the more I look at Onos's domains, I think I would just want to stick with fire and travel. Making fire the "primary" domain or the archetype would let me prepare more blasty fire spells, and both the domain abilities and spells of the travel domain are very good. I'll definitely be more of a squishy backliner, but that's fine since we're so melee heavy at the moment.
Yes, you have a good grasp of the planes. Likely his ancestor wouldn't have been the one who introduced him to Onos, and the City of Brass is the perfect traveling hub to have run into it first. I definitely plan on him thinking of Nirvana as "so peaceful it's mind numbing", and he was afraid he could spend his entire life there in a quiet, boring, ignorant bliss. I could add some more NPCs from there into his background. Certainly lots of choices that could be in the City of Brass, although since you said you intended on running this AP pretty much as written I wasn't sure how much custom background characters you wanted, especially if they're extraplanar and I have no idea if this AP gets into the other planes. Hmm...probably travel and fire (ash). Although right now I'm considering the Ecclesitheurge archetype to really make him casting focused, and that lets him play with his domains day to day.
I like the lesser known gods, assuming they at least have some level of detail. Although on Golarion Onos isn't heard of much anymore, he's still very much worshipped in other planes, and as somebody who has lived parts of his life in different planes he would be drawn to a deity whose main teaching is "promoting planar travel as a means to experience and discover what other planes have to offer". He was raised on part of Golarion in an awful situation, then found a radically different if something numbing peace in Nirvana, so Onos's faith would be of great interest to him. His celestial ancestor may only be amused or even cautious or disinterested in him following a neutral deity. I did plan on his ancestor being of significant power and having taken him to many other planes where he could have experienced a lot more, mostly just dragging him along as a ward that the ancestor felt they were responsible for, but for the ancestor to now step back and accept that my character's fate is their own (i.e. no stepping in from an angel if something goes wrong). How does that sound? He would be an outsider in a more literal sense, but his background in the north and pain at the hands of some of the main antagonists of the campaign should firmly ground him in the narrative.
Ah there's our bloodrager! I tried to avoid campaign trait overlap with others, but I like how you tied it together. It would be interesting to have our backgrounds tied together. Perhaps when my character was rescued by his celestial ancestor, they left your character behind, and it has always haunted my character. You should see the edit I made to my above post, about being neutral and wanting to become good. Edit: I also think it's interesting that two outsiders would both be captured by the witches for whatever experiments or rituals they were doing.
So. Back to the drawing board for me. My current understanding is that this is our party:
Bloodrager
We have quite a smattering of melee prowess and knowledge skills, and a good collection of arcane magic despite the lack of a full arcane caster. So I will stay with a cleric. We definitely need divine, as well as healing, and with a few choice domain selections I can have a decent spread of arcane spells at my disposal. So this is what I've landed on. An Aasimar Cleric of Onos. My current rough idea is that he was somehow 'acquired' by some of the evil arcane casters of the north that the Player's Guide so often mentions, probably by kidnapping, maybe he was sold/given to them by Cheliax slavers who despised his heritage anyways. Eventually he was rescued from whatever cruel experiments and/or servitude he was being subjected to by the celestial who was the source of the celestial blood in his ancestry. He was taken away from the material plane and spent the rest of his childhood in Nirvana. His naturally good nature struggled with the trauma of his early childhood, and the ancestor who rescued him realized he would have to come to terms with whatever happened to him on the material plane before he could overcome it. And so he returns to Golarion and to the north. And all of that would feed into the Warded against Witchery trait, and would tie him into the campaign quite nicely I think. Early concept right now, definitely open to feedback and thoughts from everybody else. Edit: I also want to have him as a TN alignment who is trying to be on a journey to become good. At least that's what his ancestor hopes for him, and has convinced him he wants.
With some more consideration, I think I'm going to stop trying to get Nareth to work in this campaign. He's thematically out of place, difficult to work into a party due to his god, and is mechanically challenging to make work. I'm just gonna scrap it and go back to the drawing board.
I normally never question a GM ruling, but I have to persist on this. Every single piece of lore I have ever read about Zon-Kuthon and his followers has put torture at the center. I built an entire homebrew campaign around the deity. Not only that but it completely mechanically breaks how he was going to function in melee. If you still say no I won't continue to push, but I will have to completely scrap the character and start over fresh with a new concept.
1) Ah, not gonna lie I almost never pay attention to that. Hmm, the other trait I like for him is reincarnated, but that's also a faith trait. I'll see what else might fit. I definitely need intimidate as a class skill, perhaps I can swap out omen for something else. 2) Buhhh, whaaat?!? That's absolutely absurd, I would bet everything I own that it's an oversight. There is no deity with more claim to torture than Zon-Kuthon. Would you allow me to take that subdomain anyways? Yes, spiked chain is a cool weapon. Pity it doesn't have reach anymore, but for some kind of dirty fighter type build it has a lot of good uses.
Alright I think Nareth I'grada is complete. Nareth will be a battle cleric, using spells when needed but also being pretty respectable in melee. I plan on picking up heavy armor proficiency and power attack in the future, not sure which one first, it will depend on if we need me to bulk up or need some more damage. I did want to take the misbegotten drawback, representing the toll taken on his body from all of the desperate reincarnation and eventual torture. His movements would be stiff and lack any kind of grace, and I'm sure that things like acrobatics over ice or thin bridges would end up being a problem in the far north.
I'll get Nareth finalized today. Stay tuned because I'll likely have questions, and will almost certainly end up asking about a drawback. x10 = 170 gp Edit: Gonna go with Vigilante Witch Hunter.
Huh, neat. So if they want to activate any rage powers they would still need to rage, but otherwise you're giving them free rounds at their increased bonus. Cool.
I think I'm gonna go with Nareth. I'm really liking how the build is coming together and I'm prepared to tackle the undead challenge head on.
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