Eternal Havok's page

My favorite is one I am currently playing in a long running 5e session. Samantha is a half-elf shadow monk (basically 5e's answer to the ninja) who was a part of a summoning ritual gone very very wrong.

Her lover Simon had his sights set on summoning a demon, but messed up and didn't specify any particular demon when he actually did the summon, and the call was answered by a particularly powerful entity (I am currently trying to figure out what, seems to be a fallen planetar). He died, Samanatha watched him die, and her fragile psyche (she is mildly sociopathic) fragmented, and due to the charged magical energy in the area from the ritual, part of Simon's consciousness fused with hers.

She was the first character who I really felt like wrote herself, as I was working on the backstory it just seemed to flow without me even knowing where the story was going. So not only do I love the character for being my favorite character, she also got me into writing things other than character backstories.

Her backstory

"Woman with Sociopathic tendencies has lover's soul bonded to her fractured soul after failed ritual."

Turns out watching your lover die in your arms while in the presence of a powerful Outsider does a number on your mental state....

Oracle has some really interesting possibilities, just because of the Mysteries. An Oracle of Blades or War for melee, Life for healing, about the only thing you couldn't quite handle is Arcane casting, but I could be missing an archetype or something. But they are all 3/4 classes with 9 levels of spell, and the versatility from the various mysteries gives a lot of wiggle room.

Plus, super thematic to think about 5 oracles teaming up for whatever reason.

Yeah, I had been trying to figure out a way to make death less painful for the players. I like the ideas you present, and I may actually work in some sort of curse type effect.

@Dark Midian: Yes, I am aware of that, but me and my players are most comfortable with Pathfinder, and I really think it is doable. In addition, Dark Souls may have been a bad example. What I am going for is more of what PK was referring to, where everything could feasibly kill you, but with proper usage of what you have available you can prevail.

@Anzyr: I plan to account for their lower power level. I don't intend to balance combats as if they were a fully stated out party with as much gear as they can carry. I also am brainstorming some ideas to make sure casters don't completely outshine the martials, although most of the people I play with are going to want to play martials anyway. They aren't power gamers.

@PK the Dragon: Thanks! Those are some great tips, and I was already planning on a few of those. Your description of Dark Souls is exactly the theme and feel I am aiming for with this campaign.

@Darigaaz the Igniter: Good point, hadn't thought of that. I will probably do that. It will help me stick to the idea of low loot without shafting them too hard.

Hey all!

I am new to posting, so if this is in the wrong section I apologize.

But on to my question. I am wanting to draft up a campaign to be run sometime in the future, with the idea behind the campaign being the players are severely outmatched at every turn, and have to rely on a lot of cunning and role play to achieve their goals. I am likely going to have a handful of small house rules to help achieve this, and rely on low amounts of loot drops to help pressure them, and make it feel very challenging. I have already talked to a few of the potential players and they seem excited for it, as it will be a change of pace from our normal games.

What I am looking for is ideas for encounters that could be used, tips on how to pull off this type of challenging environment, ways to encourage skill use in creative ways, and generally anything else that could be used to help heighten the thematic of this campaign. Any and all ideas are welcome.

Thanks!

P.S. If anyone needs any clarification, feel free to ask. I am in the early stages of planning/brainstorming though, so I don't have much yet.

Dotting in the hopes someone has mercy on us poor hoarders and shares a link/download <3

Eternal Havok wrote:

Dragonchess Player wrote:

3) "Prestige classes that are essentially class combinations-such as the arcane trickster, mystic theurge, and eldritch knight-should be prohibited if you’re using gestalt classes..." (emphasis mine)

3) I am not aware of that, can you point me to where you found that? I'm not super up on all of this so I just haven't seen that before. I was under the assumption that any classes worked for gestalt.

It's in the original gestalt rules in Unearthed Arcana (3.5, I believe).

That said, I know that not everyone follows that rule (it says that they SHOULD be prohibited). It's like how it also says you can't combine two prestige classes yet sometimes people do it anyway.

It mainly comes down to table variation.

Thank you for the clarification! Yeah, no table I have ever sat at has used it, hence my unfamiliarity. So, YMMV, but I find it to be an incredibly fun build.

Eternal Havok wrote:

This build is more of a fun thing, with this one trick that is really awesome.

The goal is Rogue 20/Sorcerer 10/Arcane Trickster 10

Obviously less than optimized, but eventually you end up turning yourself invisible, casting magic missile for unavoidable 20d6 sneak attack. Just for kicks. Remains one of my favorite gestalts. I also love that it makes the very interesting arcane trickster easier to make use of, because multi classing rogue/sorc always just feels bad.

A couple problems:

1) You can't add Sneak Attack to magic missile. Sneak Attack can only be added to spells that use an attack roll.

2) "Class features that two classes share (such as uncanny dodge) accrue at the rate of the faster class;" you can't stack Sneak Attack dice from arcane trickster on top of that from rogue from both sides of the gestalt.

3) "Prestige classes that are essentially class combinations-such as the arcane trickster, mystic theurge, and eldritch knight-should be prohibited if you’re using gestalt classes..." (emphasis mine)

1)Surprising Spells states:

"At 10th level, an arcane trickster can add her sneak attack damage to [b]any spell that deals damage[b], if the targets are flat-footed. This additional damage only applies to spells that [b]deal hit point damage[b], and the additional damage is of the same type as the spell.

Emphasis mine. My reading of that includes Magic Missile.

2)I know, but that is why you keep your rogue levels, and end up with 10d6. The 20 was a typo, my bad. Of course that is irrelevant based on....

3) I am not aware of that, can you point me to where you found that? I'm not super up on all of this so I just haven't seen that before. I was under the assumption that any classes worked for gestalt.

This build is more of a fun thing, with this one trick that is really awesome.

The goal is Rogue 20/Sorcerer 10/Arcane Trickster 10

Obviously less than optimized, but eventually you end up turning yourself invisible, casting magic missile for unavoidable 20d6 sneak attack. Just for kicks. Remains one of my favorite gestalts. I also love that it makes the very interesting arcane trickster easier to make use of, because multi classing rogue/sorc always just feels bad.

It is important to note here that we use a set of homerules for nat 20s (and 1s) in my games. If upon confirming a crit roll that was threatened by a nat 20 with another nat 20, you can roll again to confirm for a double crit. If that third roll is also a 20 (so three twenties in a row)then you instakill whatever you are attacking. Leads to some rewarding situations where you kill a big bad in a satisfying manner. Or crap like this story:

So I was DMing a home session, and had cleverly and originally stole a dungeon design from Legend of Zelda (im notoriously bad at creating dungeons and maps, don't judge me). They had a puzzle where there was a chasm, and on the other side was a square on the ground and two switches. They were *supposed* to throw a bomb on the square and it would activate the switches, extending a bridge.

Well, in trying to figure out what to do, one of my more.... enterprising players decided he wanted to shoot the square with his longbow. I said sure, and he grabbed a d20. I reminded him it wasn't necessary, a square on the ground has AC 5. He said he wanted to roll anyway. So I thought, to hell with it and let him do it.

Nat 20. Before I can stop him he is rolling to confirm.

Nat 20. He rolls one more time.

Nat. Freaking. 20.

He just "instakilled" a 5-foot-square on the ground. I rolled with it. As the arrow was mid flight, there was a flash of light, the arrow burst into flame, impacted the square, and exploded, solving the puzzle and extending the bridge. The character's deity, being a god of war, was so impressed by the shot that he enchanted the bow with flaming burst on the spot.

This is the same player who, years later, rolled 4 nat 20's in a row as a DM when an NPC was shooting at the illusions from a ring of decoy. Guy rolls all of his nat 20's in the most useless places.

Sorry to Necro the thread, but I just built a somewhat Assassin's Creed inspired character:

Inquisitor (Heretic Archetype)
Heresy Inquisition
Wisdom in the Flesh Trait

Wisdom in the Flesh Trait gives you your choice of Strength, Dex, or Constitution based skill based off your Wisdom. For this I picked Stealth.

Heresy Inquisition gives you Wisdom modifier on Bluff and Intimidate, and at level 4 you get "roll twice and take the better" for Bluff, Diplomacy, and Stealth

Heretic Archetype gives you bonus Wisdom modifier to Bluff and Stealth, in addition to your normal modifiers.

Put all this together and you are talking twice Wisdom modifier to both Bluff and Stealth, and "roll twice and take better" on both a number of times equal to your Wisdom mod. This build makes Dex completely redundant (except for AC, but just pump armor) and Charisma only useful for Diplomacy (if you want it), making them both dumps.

Make Strength your second highest stat and slap a massive two handed weapon in your hands, combine that with Bane and your judgements, and you can deal massive amounts of damage to a target that never knew you were there. Ultimate assassin.

No need to apologise my friend (alas, I'm often prone to cause unintended misunderstandings, due to the fact I have a communication problem) and your very welcome. :-)

You and me both, I understand completely! I also must congratulate you on your rapid response to my question, and willingness to help a first time PFS player and messageboards poster!

In both cases it's a fragment of heritage. Somehow celestial (and to a lesser extent, genie) 'genes' are flexible enough to mingle with those of lots of mortal species, but if they do get into a bloodline they go recessive (skipping generations and so on). If you really want to nod to real-world genetics and create a Mendel square, you can, but if I recall my Biology 102 right, if such parents had sixteen children*, you could mathematically expect nine humans (with, at most, sorcerous bloodlines), three aasimar, three ifrits, and one... thing (I recommend mongrelman, but for all I know you'd get something totally new.)

Hahahaha, mongrelman indeed... However, out of curiosity, in that Mendel square, did you account for the fact that the ifrit is half-elf, rather than human? :P

Eternal Havok wrote:

Jurassic Bard wrote:

Ah, I get it now. While I too wasn't talking about mechanics, as the characters I play as also have an unusual 'flavour' to them, ultimately you just have to write down your character's background and unique history so that if another player asks you can tell them straight away. I take it that your character doesn't exude any fiery, divine or otherwise outworldy aura.

No, it is a purely flavor/design aspect. Knowledge checks, detect magic/good/evil/etc. (or anything else that detects auras), divination, etc. would all return a straight human with nothing special going on at all.

I was mostly just wanting to confirm such design components wouldn't be so outside the norm as to make a GM want to exclude them.

That's what I meant, buddy. :-) I too give characters new threads of progression (eg, a dhampir bard I have, has in her back story -yes, I use a female character from time to time- that she is a natural born dhampir because of her ancestors trying to rid themselves of the curse in a failed ritual. Does this affect her stats or other mechanics? Absolutely not! It's just a bit of fun and interesting character development).

Just making sure we were on the same page as all! Sorry if that came off wrong, I am one to always make sure people are understanding each other. :)

And absolutely no problem with playing female characters! I have already played/am playing a female character right now, with one in development and probably more to come! (none of them are in PFS, I have only just now gotten interested). And that kind of flavor is exactly what I am going for, so thank you a lot for that example! I'm always one for making characters have very interesting touches, even when they are very generic mechanically.

Ah, I get it now. While I too wasn't talking about mechanics, as the characters I play as also have an unusual 'flavour' to them, ultimately you just have to write down your character's background and unique history so that if another player asks you can tell them straight away. I take it that your character doesn't exude any fiery, divine or otherwise outworldy aura.

No, it is a purely flavor/design aspect. Knowledge checks, detect magic/good/evil/etc. (or anything else that detects auras), divination, etc. would all return a straight human with nothing special going on at all.

I was mostly just wanting to confirm such design components wouldn't be so outside the norm as to make a GM want to exclude them.

Dave and Jurassic:

Yeah, from a mechanics point of view I would be a straight human, nothing fancy at all. Knowledge (local) would tell the character that I am a straight human, even if they roll a 20 with a stupidly high bonus to it. Nothing mechanically would be any different compared to if I was a straight human with human parents. My question isn't in mechanics however. It is flavor when interacting with other characters. Appearance things, so if another player really wants to delve into what my character looks like (which I know is something I enjoy as a player) I can tell them he has one green eye and one gold eye, rather than just saying he has blue or green eyes or something. If a player doesn't delve I won't volunteer, as I don't want to detract from the adventure. But if they do I want to know if it is something that is realistic from an in universe perspective.

I'm not trying to make the game complicated for anyone else. I just want to make it an exciting experience with rich characters, including unique and personal touches that make them stand out, without complicating things too much.

Lazar:

You raise a very good point for the Ifrit and Aasimar being unrealistic. I guess I should have clarified that I mean realistic as an in-universe test, not compared to our world. Just wanted to make sure that the celestial and elemental blood wouldn't make the union impossible or anything.

David:

While you raise a good point, there are a few problems:
1. Suli are not legal for PFS play right out of the gate
2. I really like him as a human, both for flavor and mechanics
3. I have already designed him as a human, and the shift would cause problems for the rest of the family tree
So thanks for the recommendation, I actually will keep it in mind for future characters, but it doesn't work for this one.

So, I have made a handful of characters, and on a whim, I made a family tree of those characters. I got a little carried away, and ended up with my first character (an Ifrit Ranger) being the lover of one of my other characters (an Aasimar Ninja). Well, they had a child and at the moment that child is a Human Samurai.

I was wondering how realistic of an outcome that is, and if so, if it would make sense appearance wise to have him show some traits of his heritage, such as slightly elven features (his father was a half-elf ifrit) and unnatural eye color. I am thinking about playing this character as my first PFS character and so would like to know if that kind of thing would fly with most GMs there. Mechanically he is fully Human, straight core rules, but appearance wise he is clearly not a full blood human. I am familiar with the Racial Heritage feat, but I don't want any mechanical differences, just appearance. So I am talking pure flavor with this.

Also, as a additional question on that, my home GM allowed my Samurai to age at a decreased rate (at the rate of his parents) due to his heritage. I understand that having him age different is way out there, and am planning on not including that part in PFS, but is there any chance I could pull it off? I think it would be great flavor if so.

So, I haven't played him yet, but I have a plan for a Tiefling with Multiple Personality Disorder. Neither personality realizes there is a second personality, but both remember all of the actions made by both personalities.

Here is where it gets fun: One personality is a Lawful Good Paladin, struggling to over come his evil nature, and has a strong hatred of any non-good summoned being (due to his heritage) and the other personality is a Neutral Evil Summoner, who just kinda wants to cause a lot of chaos. The Paladin always assumes that the evil actions of the summoner are just his evil natures as a tiefling coming through, and always repents and spends hours in prayer atoning for his deeds. The summoner just doesn't give a rip and does whatever he pleases.

As far as actual mechanics, I am going to have them share some of the basic things, such as hit points, ability scores, skill ranks, and that type of thing. But all of the class features will be completely separate, so when the personality switches, things like smite evil and the eidolon immediately end.