Equipment: +1 Rapier, +1 Buckler, Cloak of Resistance +1, Pearl of Power I, Scroll of Make Whole, Wand of Cure Light Wounds, mithral breastplate, explorer's outfit
Background & Personality:
Galyth was born in Isger, the son of slaves to a Chelish nobleman named Tyrilius Vescare. Galyth was still young, just adapting to working in the fields, when the Goblinblood Wars came. Desperate for reinforcements against the invading goblinoids, Tyrilius offered emancipation to any of his slaves that would take up arms alongside the local militia. Galyth's father accepted the offer and died soon after in the fighting, alongside his former master. Galyth managed to flee along with his two younger sisters and found their way into a refugee camp protected by mercenaries from Druma.
For months, the free status of Galyth's family was disputed by members of the Vescare noble family, claiming that the papers were fake or that Tyrilius wouldn't have honored his pledge, but pressure from Eagle Knights participating in the war forced the Isgeri authorities to finally accept the validity of the emancipation documents. As the war drew to a close, Galyth's family joined the Eagle Knights when they returned to Andoran.
Galyth and his sisters settled in an orphanage supported in part by Caydenite priests. Inspired by their tales and the memory of his father defending their village in Isger, Galyth decided to become an adventuer and joined the faith of the Lucky Drunk. After resolving a kidnapping incident involving a Chelaxian noble scion, Galyth came to the attention of Supreme Elect Codwin.
Galyth is a good-natured man worn down somewhat by life, following several reversals in his adventuring career. He manages to put on a good face when enjoying life in taverns and only rarely hides his troubles in drink. He has been known to grow serious swiftly when his attention turns to matters of consequence. Galyth takes care to donate to the orphanages in the cities he travels to, or other worthy causes. His family and his companions come first.
I still need to finish buying Galyth's nonmagical adventuring gear. My other remaining task is traits. Do we have anything like campaign or regional traits available?
A question about the Character Creation guidelines: the entry in the original post states that we get 11k gold and that this represents characters being 'loaded'. But the wealth by level guidelines for level 5 suggest 10.5k. That is more, but I thought I'd check.
I got the message from Crusade earlier today. I'm catching up on the gameplay thread now and I'll need to set up a new alias for my character. I'm not sure yet whether I'll make a separate alias for Karogo.
In recruitment, GM of the Crusade was saying that we'll be pretending that my character was in Aerianna's spot the whole time. Fortunately, my Gameplay read so far suggests that Tessaviri wouldn't have done things terribly differently.
For GM of the Crusade: do you have any preferences about running animal companions in combat? My best reading of the rules is that the GM runs them, but I'm usually in the camp of not dumping more work on the GM. In PFS play, I let the players control them but reserved the right to edit their actions if they were doing more than the companion would know how given the trick instructions.
What I'm used to outside of pbp is separate initiatives, with the companion typically on a default of Defend its master. Since Tessaviri is frontline character, that's probably enough to get her wolf involved in fighting but if any tricks need to be given, that happens on the master's turn. (In real-life play, I forget to actually do the commanding a LOT. Hopefully its fine to do a retcon command on Karogo's turn if I forget on Tessaviri's).
*
Also for GM of the Crusade: we aren't there yet but the Divine Hunter archetype will eventually be giving Tessaviri's animal companion the Celestial template, assuming we avoid any major disasters. There isn't any rider on the archetype that allows her to cast spells on her companion without forcing through spell resistance normally, so by RAW she'll have to deal with it. I assume that having the spell resistance also means that the companion will know how to take it down as a standard action briefly if asked to, but there's no rules about that anywhere that I can see.
It's also not 100% clear what value the companion's spell resistance should be. The Celestial template awards spell resistance based on the creature's Challenge Rating, but companions don't have one of those. Companion HD or the druid-equivalent character level are two obvious choices.
I'm fine with a ruling that Tessaviri will have to push through Karogo's (eventual) spell resistance normally if that's what you decide. Thankfully, she gets a bit of help on that from being an elf. If this is the case, my preference is actually for the lower SR HD-based option above.
*
Edit: How should I handle HP for Karogo? Do I use the same full HP for first HD then half+1 thereafter model?
GM, are we going to be pre- or post- Worldwound closure in the timeline? I doubt my character will have the Worldwound as part of his background, but it keeps coming up as a data point when I'm writing this up.
I still need to pull together an actual profile. No time for that now.
For background coordination, my preference is for the party to have worked together before, probably recently & maybe on a project leading up to this one in some way. If a character doesn't work with that, it doesn't have to be everyone. (Or anyone but I'm still hopeful)
My character is Leon Volens, a paladin of Ionedae that is using an archetype that works very well in dark conditions & is stealth capable. (+21 in low-light)
His current background suggests he fought at Lastwall before joining the Pathfinder Society after a previous run-in with Whispering Way cultlists.
Magic Items: +1 Vicious Longsword, +2 Shadow Full Plate, Cloak of Resistance +1, Belt of Giant Strength +2, Headband of Alluring Charisma +2, Pearl of Power I
Potions & Oils: Daylight & Fly
Scrolls: Aura of Greater Courage, Resist Energy, Death Ward, Restoration (100g component)
Build Highlights:
#1 - Dusk Knight allows a stealthy paladin build, and Leon leans into that. He does very well in shadowy & dark conditions and if we have a party that wants lots of light spells to fight the darkness, he should probably sit out. He can grant darkvision to allies in a pinch. In shadowy/dark conditions, his Stealth is +21 with the full plate. He'll be able to accompany Rogue scouting expeditions instead of having to stay 100' away or whatever.
#2 - Vicious longsword - Leon uses Lay on Hands to offset some of the self damage he'll be inflicting here
Background:
Leon grew up in Molthune and migrated to Lastwall to help defend the region from the orcs of Belkzen. He first came into direct contact with the Pathfinder Society while on patrol in Ustalav, where they cooperated with Pathfinder agents in spoiling the plans of a group of Whispering Way cultists. Impressed by the Pathfinders, he chose to resign his commission with Lastwall when his contract ran out & joined the Society.
Leon's sword was inherited from his mentor, a Kellid man named Krid.
* I'd like to write more about how Leon found his way into the current situation, but it's probably better to work that out as a party once that's decided.
I'm interested. Out of curiousity, is there a reason we're getting level 7 gold from the Wealth by Level table for level 8 characters? Unless my source is wrong, level 8 should grant 33,000.
Does the scenario take the characters to level 10 after it's over, or does it anticipate play at level 10?
@Novel Enigma: it makes me feel a touch better that one of the two characters I had in mind for All for Immortality (if I ever do it) is a cleric. Not a dedicated healer, but fairly multi-role-ish.
@Watery Soup: it helps that you point out that 10-16 is a quest scenario. Those weren't my favorites. I liked the repeatables in the style of From the Tome of Righteous Repose much better & if the campaign had gone longer would have loved to see a 7-11 repeatable in that style.
I'd already heard good things about 7-21 The Sun Orchid Scheme and 10-02 Bones of Biting Ants from others but it's good to get confirmation on those. Some other good information as well.
I was looking through the remaining PFS1 scenarios that I haven't played or GM'd. I probably don't have the time/interest/energy to do all of them in either format, so I was wondering which among the list people would most recommend as being high quality/worth doing.
Standalone Scenarios List:
PFS1 3-24 The Golden Serpent
PFS1 6-08 The Seagang Expedition
PFS1 6-17 Fires of Karamoss
PFS1 7-21 The Sun Orchid Scheme
PFS1 7-23 Abducted In Aether
PFS1 7-24 Dead Man's Debt
PFS1 7-27 Beyond Azlant Ridge
PFS1 8-13 What Sleeps in Stone
PFS1 8-23 Graves of Crystalmaw Pass
PFS1 9-12 Shrine of the Sacred Tempest
PFS1 10-02 Bones of Biting Ants
PFS1 10-11 The Hao Jin Heirophant
PFS1 10-16 What the Helms Hide
PFS1 10-19 Corpses in Kalsgard
PFS1 10-21 Slaver's End
Series List:
City of Strangers (Season 1)
All for Immortality (Season 7)
Passing the Torch (Season 10)
Scenarios I'm interested in doing for character/story/faction reasons (but should ask about anyway):
PFS1 9-23 The Ghol-Gan Heresy
PFS1 10-08 What Prestige is Worth
PFS1 10-09 The Rasping Rebirth
PFS1 10-18 The Daughter's Due
I've been thinking about submitting for this & took a peek at Slick's alias. Does anyone know how to get the symbols they have in their stat profile? Did that all come from Pathbuilder?
If I got in, I'd prefer to have a party theme as well. The player's guide suggests it and it seems cool. It does seem more workable in this format to pick a theme after the party exists though.
I bet you'd get players no matter which edition you picked.
I know that for my submission at least it would be awkward to switch to 2e. The Ranger class changed a lot & neither of the combat styles I was expecting to take are really supported in-class (plus losing magic). Alera's mechanical representation might need to be rethought altogether if she was selected for a 2e game.
I won't pretend to be an expert on writing backgrounds but I can put something forward. One of my favorite techniques is to have a friend look it over. Ideally they can give some helpful feedback but that isn't really the point. The main benefit is it forces me to write up the background well enough that I can present it to someone I know. That usually makes me clean it up a lot & not make lazy choices.
I pulled together Alera's Background. So here's an update of my submission:
Background:
Alera Runaxe was to be married. Her clan had arranged for a suitable groom from another respectable clan, the Highcliffs from the Five Kings Mountains. She wasn't familiar with her husband-to-be but had met him once two decades before, and had no objections to her family's choice. She was to move from Janderhoff and start a new life there, helping to manage the Highcliff's trade routes. Everything was as it should be. That was the plan.
Unexpectedly, on the night before her wedding Alera felt disturbed by the marriage prospect. With the long-expected event upon her and a Highcliff clan dagger in hand, she suddenly found the idea alien and weird in a way she couldn't put a finger on. So she left.
After wandering west through Korvosa to leave behind any trackers from Janderhoff, she took on work with Kunn Runeaxe, a cousin of hers who was known as a black sheep. Fortunately for her, he either didn't know or didn't care that she had fled her marriage. That was fifteen years ago.
Kunn was an odd sort. Rather than seek out steady work in a respectable mine, he took them to remote locations in the Stony Hills in a search for his next big haul. They spent a lot of time moving above and beneath the sky-ground, exploring caves that never went quite as deep or yielded quite the riches they hoped. Alera's need to avoid dwarven society worked well with his wanderlust, though she found her cousin exasperating at times.
Kunn called Alera stodgy and hidebound whenever she complained about his wasteful ways, but she found that was only true in comparison to her cousin. The longer she spent away from home, the more she was surprised at how untraditional she could be. She doubted that she would ever take to Kunn's excesses, but time away from her home and clan was liberating in ways she didn't expect.
One of those surprises was her attraction to Riddleport. The sheer variety and liveliness of the city never failed to draw her in. Kunn would stay true to form and go visit a gambling den when they visited the city on a supply run, leaving her to her own devices. She particularly enjoyed finding a good Caydenite tavern, as those hailing the Lucky Drunk were mostly clean and free from the worst of the city's criminals. The ale was usually the same swill common in the area, but in her favored haunts she could regularly find a good friendly brawl and no one would try to stop her or tell her she was shaming her clan. It was fantastic.
Alongside the Runeaxe clan dagger Alera was given at birth, she carries the Highcliff dagger she took when she fled Janderhoff. The second is a source of constant turmoil to her. Selling it would be an obvious dishonor she doesn't intend, but she has occasionally been tempted to leave it behind in one of the caves she explored with Kunn. So far she has held onto it, still uncertain whether she wants the marriage she ran away from.
Note: The background above still doesn't reference how Saul is an old friend of Alera's. My current idea is that Saul is really Kunn's friend. Alera has known him for a long time, but he's mostly an acquaintance to her. Kunn is indisposed for some reason, and Alera is attending the gambling event in his place: dwarven obligation is pulling Alera along to help Saul.
Writing all of that up made me realize that Rangers get a lot of options that can impact how the class works a great deal, but that aren't chosen at level 1. My intent right now is:
* Combat Style: two-handed weapon or weapon & shield, depending on what the party looks like
* Hunter's Bond: companions
I'd like to submit a dwarven ranger, under the Saul's Old Pal trait. The background is still in progress but should be up soon. Just wanted to get something down before too much time passes. Makes me commit.
Questions: I wasn't able to find a free Player's Guide for this AP. Most APs I see give a recommendation for early-campaign favored enemies?
Also, I don't know enough about Saul to work in the 'Old Pal' part very well yet. Is there somewhere we can get a bit more than in the OP, or should we feel free to make stuff up?
OK. Ustalav borders with Mendev so the difference there shouldn't be a big deal. If you want to work some more setting information into your stories, the Inner Sea World Guide is from the Pathfinder 1e era and the .pdf is on Paizo's website for a pretty reasonable deal.
I answered a book question recently for WFRP...make me feel like I'm hawking stuff.
I did notice that your background didn't say much about Wrath of the Righteous or try to work your character into the starting location of Kenabres. That makes sense if you are submitting this character to multiple APs but most GMs request stuff like that when making their recruitment posts. I'd probably reserve a section of the background that you can modify to suit whatever game has come up. Possibly I'd change the Shudderwood starting location as well if the AP is going to happen a long way from the north.
The "cultivation of knowledge" quote stands out since it was repeated. At one point though you posited that Brother Kye was at least impatient with it, if I read the background right. Was that intended to be a longrunning theme for the character (perhaps a source of growth over the adventure)?
First, a clarification: was this character made for the evil-party not-Wrath game recruitment? The entry explaining why your character is in jail makes me think so. It isn't too important if the recruitment was a bit different--they are related anyway. It would be good to be sure though.
Mechanically, I've seen someone try to mix barbarian with bard in a PFS game once at low level. It...did not work well. The barbarian rage & bard song couldn't be kept up at the same time at least the way it was being ruled at that table, although I think there is some rules ambiguity on that point (Lingering Song might have worked somewhat). Bloodrager and Skald might also work better together than Bard and Barbarian did that I'm not thinking of right now. Is there a particular synergy you are looking for from the combination of classes?
Moving to the background, one minor point is that I think you got the name of your character's human subtype wrong. Kellids are from the area nearby Sarkoris/Worldwound, but are definitely not blond & blue-eyed commonly. Amiri is our classic Kellid character. Everything else I saw in your background suggested that you were thinking of an Ulfen human subtype instead.
Aside from that, most of the background was about the weird religious fusion your character worships. You mentioned that your father was also a member of a Nocticulan cult. What was it like growing up in a demonic cult? Was this in the Land of the Linnorm Kings? Did Ragnar grow up in a smaller village (easier to maintain a cult way out there maybe)? If he grew up worshipping Nocticula, how did he decide to mix Gorum into his worship? Gorum is a fairly generic faith for the Linnorm Kingdoms where your character might have come from. It's a bit difficult to see a member of a demonic cult mixing back in with a culturally accepted faith rather than going from a culturally accepted faith into a demon-related heresy. Your character could definitely have done so, but how did he make that transition?
------------------------------------------
Brother Kye:
I don't have time to look over your background stuff right now. I'll try to get to him soon. Your post talked about mechanics, but your build seems to be planned out in a good bit of detail already. Were you looking for any mechanical comments?
The little bit that I looked over for the background said something about growing up near the Shudderwood. That's a bit funny since it's something I had picked out for my elven character as well, though she left the area about a hundred years ago. Some of the Shudderwood is in the Worldwound region now. Is the Shudderwood your character grew up in the Ustalav half?
I made a thread in Discussion for anyone who wants to come and join me for character workshopping like I was talking about earlier. If anyone wants to come bounce ideas around with me, the thread is here.
As I mentioned in the recruiting thread earlier, I'm wanting to bounce some ideas about my character off some people and with the recruitment thread stalled, I'm inviting folks over this way.
We'd obviously need to wait & see how many show up. Once folks are here, we can either take turns talking about each character in turn and giving feedback or just kind of free-form it. I think the only real rule should be that you need to be giving said feedback on the characters of others. Probably feedback is best in the form of questions rather than suggestions, although the other might be called for as well.
The character concept I want to work on is Tessaviri, an elven hunter (fighter if gestalt, though I could be talked out of that perhaps) and her wolf companion Karogo. I'll otherwise hold off to let others go first.
I'm not willing to give up on this recruitment yet, but my thoughts are turning to what comes after. As such, I have a suggestion for any interested: let's create a Discussion page to work on our various character backgrounds. It should be fun, and even if we aren't chosen this time the work may prove useful later on. I always come up with something better if I have someone to bounce my ideas off of. Likely, someone else in here feels the same way.
I guess this could include mechanical build finessing as well, but I'm mostly interested in backgrounds right now.
If at least one person responds affirmatively, I'll set up a page for our chatter.
I'm also in the resubmit category. Tessaviri Erisanthe is an elven Divine Hunter/Fighter.
Tessaviri Stats:
Tessaviri Erisanthe Female Elf Divine Hunter of Iomedae 1 / Fighter 1
NG Medium humanoid (elf); Age 129 (birthdate 19 Desnus); Height 5' 10"; Weight 107 lbs
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
DEFENSE AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13, CMD 16 (+3 dex, +3 armor)
Hit Points 15 (+10 fighter, +1 constitution, +1 favored class bonus +3 toughness)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +2 (+1 fort & reflex vs evil outsiders, +2 vs enchantments)
Immune magical sleep
OFFENSE Speed 30 ft.
Melee cold iron longsword +4 (1d8+3/19-20/x2), cold iron dagger +4 (1d4+3/19-20/x2)
Ranged longbow +4 (1d8/20/x3)
Special Abilities Animal Focus 1/day
Hunter Spells Known (CL 1; concentation +3; +3 vs spell resistance)
1st (DC 13, 2/day) - Cure Light Wounds, Resist Energy (20), Summon Nature's Ally I
Orisons - Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink
STATISTICS Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats – Point-Blank Shot, Toughness
Traits – Exposed to Awfulness, Purity of Faith, Scholar of the Great Beyond
Skills (ranks: +6 Hunter +2 Intelligence) – Handle Animal +3 (+7 to handle Karogo), Heal +6, Knowledge (planes) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +8, Profession (Soldier) +6, Stealth +7, Survival +6
Skill Ranks - Handle Animal 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 1, Perception 1, Profession (Soldier) 1, Stealth 1, Survival 1
Languages – Celestial, Elven, Hallit, Taldane
SQ – Nature Training, Wild Empathy +0
Noncombat Gear - backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint & steel, iron pot, mess kit, 50' rope, soap, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), waterskin, iron holy symbol of Iomedae
Combat Gear - longbow, 20 cold iron arrows, cold iron longsword, cold iron dagger, studded leather, buckler
Carrying Capacity Light: 76, Medium: 153, Heavy: 230
Total Carried 66.2 lbs
Karogo (Wolf Animal Companion) Stats:
Karogo Male Wolf Companion 2; N Medium animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +1
DEFENSE AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12, CMD 15 (+2 dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural armor)
Hit Points 13 (+9 animal, +4 constitution)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1
OFFENSE Speed 50 ft.
Melee +2 (1d6+3 and trip/20/x2)
STATISTICS Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats – Dodge
Skills (ranks: +4 Animal -2 Intelligence) – Stealth +7
Skill Ranks - Stealth 2
SQ – Link, Share Spells
Background:
Tessaviri was a young girl living in the forests of Sarkoris when the Worldwound opened. Her family died there, but she fled to Sarkoris and lived through the Crusades. Now of age, she seeks to hold the line against the growing threat to the north.
I saw this toward the end, but I'd like to submit Tessaviri Cervalin, an elven Divine Hunter of Iomedae / Fighter and her wolf friend, Karogo. Tessaviri is a refugee from the Shudderwood in what was once Sarkoris, and was a child when the Worldwound opened.
Alignment: Neutral Good
Animal Companion: wolf
Personal fighting style: primarily archery
If it's helpful, I played Tessaviri initially in PFS as just a Divine Hunter, and her gestalt build would look fairly similar, with Fighter overlaid and some amount of chaos with her feats since that's a thing for Fighters. You can see the PFS version of the character here.
Background Stuff:
The crisp, frosty morning air
Melody of the Shudderwood
Shaded glades gleaming as the sun rises
The world ends
"On occasion, some have asked me what I saw when the god of the humans died. The truth is that I didn't see much. It's odd to say that the end of the world seemed ordinary, but much of the time it was. The sun rises and sets. You try to find food and help someone else if you can. That sort of thing..."
"A great storm came that was a herald of the destruction to come. It shook the Shudderwood fiercely, but the elders told us not to worry: that this storm would pass like all the others before it. They didn't know what was happening just outside our forest."
"I was very young then, when the demons came. We first heard of attacks on outlying parts of the forest and my father and brother left to go defend our homes with others from the village. We never saw them again. My older sisters and I tried to flee, but it was already too late. The demons came and the horse I was on scattered into the wind while my sisters gave their lives to save me."
"Somehow I escaped. Some Sarkorians took me in as they fled the demons. We reached Nerosyan, and they left me at an orphanage. I owe them so much, but I no longer know their names...I was too caught up in my own loss to think of their sacrifices."
"Then came the crusade. I remember the skepticism of those around me. What could the followers of a mere herald of a god who no longer answered prayers do to stop the end of the world? I thought differently...that they would take vengeance for my family and push the demons back to where they came. We were both wrong. I don't think anyone could have imagined how long this would go on...that it could possibly result in the long wars we've seen ever since."
"The world is still ending, you know. You can see it for yourself."
Tessaviri was born in AR 4589. I don't know what year the campaign is starting, but that should put her age a bit over 120 years.
Tessaviri lived in the orphanage in Nerosyan until the First Crusade came to Mendev, when she was taken in by the Cervalins, a noble family from Cheliax that had come to join the fight against the Worldwound and she moved with them to Kenabres. They encouraged her to adopt their faith in the Inheritor and although she refused for a few years, she eventually chose to begin worshipping Iomedae near the end of the First Crusade. Still young, she began running errands for the medics who tended to the wounded returning from the front lines.
When not serving with the Iomedeans, Tessaviri acted as a servant to the Cervalin family. Over the decades, she saw multiple generations of the Cervalin family be born and grow old while she remained a child. Although the second head of the Cervalin family in Kenabres offered to formally adopt Tessaviri, she felt uncomfortable abandoning the memories of her elven ancestors. She finally relented when she fell deeply in love with Darsius Cervallin, a scion of the Cervalins, and married him in AR 4695 at the age of 106. She remained married for ten years and she bore a son they named Alix. Darsius died on the front lines near the end of the Fourth Crusade.
The death of her husband broke Tessaviri as she entered a spiral of depression that finally drove her from Kenabres, leaving behind her son with the Cervalin family. She first traveled to Kyonin in search of her mother, who had left her family years before the disaster at the Shudderwood, but found no word of her elven family there. She left from there and travelled to Lastwall, where she fell in with a group of adventurers: a pair of human siblings and a half-orc as well as a wolf she befriended in the forests of Nirmathas and named Karogo. With their companionship, she began to recover by degrees.
Their explorations eventually brought them to a ruined temple of Aroden where she found a small shrine to Iomedae in her role as a herald. Feeling lost, she prayed to the Inheritor for the first time in over a year. That night, she dreamed of a great griffon that called her to return to the service of her goddess and to return to Mendev. As the first vision ended, she found herself before a pride of lions that comforted her in her dream while she wept for those she had lost.
When Tessaviri woke, she felt reforged and her faith renewed as though years had passed instead of a single night. Recognizing the gift given to her, she left an offering at the Iomedean shrine and thanked her adventuring companions before leaving for Kenabres with Karogo at her side.
I'd like to dot in to make a submission. I'm currently thinking of a bard, but I need to check something tomorrow before I commit to that. I'll have something more final by the deadline.
I just finished GMing a Hao Jin Cataclysm game and I'm looking for some specific scenarios that I'd like to play in. I'd be willing to do a GM swap if that helps to grease the wheels. I'll note the tier I'm aiming for as well as the character class I'm planning to play in each:
* PFS1 10-18 The Daughters' Due (8-9 tier - Magus)
* PFS1 8-04 Wardens of Sulfur Gultch (10-11 tier - Wizard) - I have GM'd this one already
* PFS1 10-20 Countdown to Round Mountain (10-11 tier - Ranger)
* PFS1 10-14 Reaver's Roar (10-11 tier - Hunter)
If someone wants to GM swap, I have materials for a wide selection of PFS scenarios I could run in return. Not everything but a lot: feel free to ask!
I don't think a 7th level cleric is going to break the table since we have a few 5th levels. If we look something like this (subject to change I am sure).
Should we go with five players? I'd plan to bring my L7 melee cleric, which would leave the party kind of melee heavy. My cleric is a Caydenite, though, and playing with a Caydenite Warpriest is too good to pass up. (Plus none of my options are relevant in ranged combat anyhow.)
I'm considering submitting a Dragonheir Scion. The archetype has some oddities, though:
* Draconic Strike replaces a level 3 bonus feat that doesn't exist - PFS campaign clarifications make this a level 4 bonus feat replacement instead
* Draconic Presence replaces a level 5 bonus feat that doesn't exist - PFS similarly makes this a level 6 bonus feat replacement
Would you adopt those campaign clarifications in your campaign?
* Arcane Strike granted through Eldritch Strike does not say anything about scaling further with caster level, and Fighters don't have caster levels. Would it scale with Dragonheir Scion level?
Is there a plan yet for when we'll be able to run Siege of Gallowspire on these boards? I'm trying to get a Seeker character ready for the carnage, and knowing how much time I have, even roughly, would be useful.
Jakreg could still remember his life as livestock, more or less. It was a hazy memory from six years ago, when Pharasmin priests had rescued him from the pens of a Gebbite noble. He didn't remember anything from before that. Cattle weren't expected to think much, and for the most part didn't. They'd determined afterward based on his tattoos that he was born somewhere in Varisia or Belkzen, but weren't able to determine more than that.
With no where else to go, Jakreg fell in with Sardoris Meralen, a mercenary from the Pharasmin expedition. Sardoris found work for them with the Aspis Consortium and began teaching Jakreg the dangerous trade of tomb robbing. The young half orc picked up the lessons quickly and was about to move up from a contractor position with the Aspis when Sardoris suddenly died, the victim of a nasty scythe trap.
After Sardoris's death, Jakreg had to deal more closely with the Aspis overseers at the dig site and eventually decided that he found the organization distateful, driven in part by their disrespectful treatment of Sardoris after his death. He left the Aspis operation and bounced around with a few independent outfits for a year.
Jakreg takes pride in his work as a dungeon explorer and is eager to prove his skills to his companions. He attempts to exhibit a high degree of professionalism in his work, one of the few things he saw in the Aspis worth emulating.
Trappings: Cloak, Clothing, Dagger, Pouch, Sling Bag with Flask of Spirits, Bucket, Brush, Mop
I need to take a break from this for now but I'll work on getting him fleshed out soon. Role-wise in the party, I'm seeing this guy coming out as an archer (when he gets his hands on a bow) and he has a solid set of mostly Fellowship skills. I'll be wanting to develop Leadership in particular to go with his Noble Blood talent.
Random Talent 1:1d100 ⇒ 22 - Flee!
Random Talent 2:1d100 ⇒ 51 - Noble Blood
Random Talent 3:1d100 ⇒ 39 - Marksman
There's more to do, but it looks like most of the rest isn't determined randomly. I'll post back with more after I figure out what all of this did and make more decisions.
Let's see... my understanding of a quick read of the book is that we can roll & get free XP if we accept the results of the roll. If we roll and get something we'd rather not, we can just pick something else instead but don't get XP. Basically a no-risk roll. Is that right?
I'm looking for information on which Adventure Paths form a series, even if the series is only loose. I have in mind things like:
Rise of the Runelords
Shattered Star
Return of the Runelords
While things like War for the Crown and probably Hell's Vengeance are more standalone.
Obviously, they aren't proper series since each Adventure Path has its own internal story and 1-20 (or at least very high) progression. The ones I mentioned above are all strongly Thassilonian/Runelord themed, however.
Are there other series out there? Did I get all the parts of the Runelords storyline?
I have a pair of groups that are forming up for the PF2 Playtest. One is hoping to meet on a weekly or biweekly basis, though we haven't decided on a day yet. The other group is going to go play-by-post.
I've heard that there are reporting deadlines by which Paizo hopes to have input on each part of the Doomsday playtest module. Additionally, I've learned that there are Organized Play scenarios.
Do we know what the deadlines are like for each one? Do we have two weeks for each part of Doomsday? How long are the parts? I have a feel for the length of PFS scenarios, but how much time do we have to complete them?
What is the rationale for giving the Rogue so many more skill feats than everyone else? Prior experience to me suggests that having a class be the Skills Guy is a bad idea. One of two things tends to happen:
1. The Skills Guy pays for their extra skills in combat proficiency and sits in the shadows while the combat characters do the fighting. Some might like it but it's not a great model in my view.
2. The Skills Guy doesn't pay for their extra skills in combat proficiency and we start wondering why he gets extra skills.
The one comment I have is something that might not apply in the new edition, I suppose. One of my ongoing annoyances in PF1 was that certain effects attacked a nearly custom defense value. Intimidate was a good example, targeting a creature's 10+HD+Wis.
If I was going much further with PF1, I'd be tempted to say that there should have been a more standardized value 'mental defense' or something similar. I guess they really could have just been Will Saves instead.
I started writing down stats that didn't actually appear in the game for some of my higher-level casters, such as Spell Attack for all of the +caster level +charisma attacks (Telekinesis and similar spells), but it looks like that sort of thing is already handled.
Shelyn is getting name-dropped a lot in these playtest articles. Is she becoming more prominent in the new version, or does our article writer just really like her?
I wonder if people would be less upset if they gave Goblins a different appellation, by calling the base seven the "Core Races" and calling goblins an "Uncommon Race" which will be supplemented by further uncommon races in future expansions.
And is it true that Paizo is baking the Golarion setting into the core rulebook? I believe that's part of the anxiety, too -- the feeling that people are being dictated a default setting.
If someone is troubled by it, honestly I think this doesn't have to affect your group -- nothing stops you from reducing the prevalence of adventuring goblins in Golarion, or from using your own campaign setting.
Golarion was at least nominally baked into the Core book in 1E as well: the gods of Golarion were in the Cleric chapter.
For what it's worth, if goblins were in Core but were designated as "uncommon" somehow, that would make a difference for me.
Completed Adventures
XX-XX(P013) Master of the Fallen Fortress(CORE) (Mithrennon-01)
XX-XX(P003) We Be Goblins (Reta-PREGEN) (Mirima-03)
INTRO-1(L006) First Steps (Mirima-02)
INTRO-1(L009GM) First Steps (GM CREDIT) (Jaarik-01)
INTRO-1(P011) First Steps (Asami-02)
00-01(P018) The Silent Tide (Asami-04)
00-03(P001) Murder on the Silken Caravan (Mirima-01)
00-04(P017) The Frozen Fingers of Midnight (Asami-03)
00-05(P005) Mists of Mwangi (Etiana-01)
00-24(P008) Decline of Glory (Mirima-04)
01-35(L010) Voice in the Void (Mirima-05)
01-39(L004) The Citadel of Flame (Aran-04)
01-55(L003) The Infernal Vault (Aran-03)
02-01(L005) Before the Dawn-Part I: The Bloodcove Disguise (Aran-05)
02-02(L007) Before the Dawn-Part II: Rescue at Aslant Ridge (Aran-06)
02-15(P006) Shades of Ice-Part I: Written in Blood (Zimti-02)
02-17(P020) Shades of Ice—Part II: Exiles of Winter (Zimti-03)
02-19(P021) Shades of Ice—Part III: Keep of the Huscarl King (Zimti-04)
03-05(P004) Tide of Twilight (Juniper-01)
03-08(L011) Among the Gods (Aran-07)
03-18(P015) The God's Market Gamble (Etiana-02)
04-01(L002) Rise of the Goblin Guild (Aran-02)
05-01(P012) The Glass River Rescue (Hskovati-02)
05-08(L001) The Confirmation (Aran-01)
05-08(P002) The Confirmation (Zimti-01)
05-08(L008GM) The Confirmation (GM CREDIT) (Asami-01)
06-10(P007) The Wounded Wisp (Hskovati-01)
06-10(P009) The Wounded Wisp (Juniper-02)
06-12(P016) Scions of the Sky Key, Part 1: On Sharrowsmith's Trail (Juniper-03)
