Hey everyone! Looks like Crimson Throne has it. Apologies for the radio silence, had a couple things come up. Additionally, I’m a bit of a Luddite and need to transfer the character sheets from a physical notebook to a google drive.
So! Might be a couple days before I get things moving. When I do, I’ll send each of you a PM with a link to the campaign.
Hello everyone! No tornadoes last night, but the Paizo site did go down. I got sleepy before they came back up, hence the announcement being pushed until this morning.
I'm going to level with you: deciding this off of writing submissions may have actually been more difficult than selecting based on character submissions. I had an absolute delight of a time reading each and every one of your writing samples.
However! I have to make the call, and I am excited to say that...
Dragoncat
Elfriede
Ridge
The Lobster
...have been selected for the game!
To those who were not selected: I don't have any immediate plans to run anything else, but let's just say I'll keep an eye out for you on the boards.
To my four players: we have one more thing to do in this thread before I move us over to a campaign thread: selecting the AP!
We're going to do weighted, ranked-choice voting since we have a small number but even number of voters and a smaller selection of APs. So, vote for the three APs in order of interest. The Path that gets the overall highest votes is the one we will go with.
Once we nail down the AP, I'll link you to a "recruitment" thread where I'll hand out full character sheets, we'll suss out who everyone will play, and I'll give you a couple small tasks to make the characters a bit more "your own" before we get started.
Huge thank you to everyone who showed interest and/or submitted!
Just realized I haven't updated anything on this old profile since I dug it up. I live in Oklahoma now, in case anyone checked my location and thought there were tornadoes in northern California, haha!
Hello everyone! I am still planning on closing this at about 8pm central, but we're under a tornado watch. Not likely to have any real serious trouble but winds are strong enough that internet outages are a possibility. So if you're running late and you haven't seen me do a "we're closed" post, you still have some time - just can't promise you how much!
but I also like Murdock Beltram even if I seldom play LN types.
For what it's worth, LN is pretty much my least favorite alignment. But at a certain point characters start writing themselves and I knew Murdock was a Rules Guy at heart.
And starting the campaign out with him pushed to the point of considering extra-judicial means of dealing with Gaedren makes for some nice character tension.
Ok, after much scrambling about finding the time to get this down, let us meet the parties! The four selected players will have three APs to choose from, and thus three pregenerated parties. I’m going to list them here now in the event that party compositions end up affecting which AP you prefer.
Some of these characters are more detailed than the others - some of these nerds just ended up having more fluff attached to my basic concept than others. You’ll be free to build around and out of what I have established, as well as add in any other details or personality traits you like beyond that to make the character feel more “yours”. Most of the characters have pretty straightforward builds evident at first level, however if you’d like any insight on what I had planned for them in the long term you’re welcome to pick my brain about them over PM and either utilize or disregard any of my ideas.
Without further ado:
Rise Of The Runelords:
Mitena Gan
Female Samsaran Cleric (Cloistered Cleric) of Qi Zhong
Lawful Good
Campaign Trait: Student of Faith
Strengths: Healing, Buffs, Knowledge Skills, Face
Mitena is a Samsaran healer hailing from Tian Xia (which specific nation is entirely up to you). She is part of a small sect of Qi Zhong worshipers that devote a great deal of time to non-magical medical research and academia. The dedication of Sandpoints temple to six major deities was considered noteworthy by her sect, and she has been dispatched to record detailed notes of the events as well as encouragement to stay in Avistan as long as she likes to research, gather, and develop more information of interest to her sect.
Vin Cozma
Male Elf Unchained Rogue (Underground Chemist) VMC: Alchemist
Chaotic Neutral
Campaign Trait: Family Ties
Strengths: Ranged Combat,Traps, Skill Monkey ++
One of the Forlorn (Elves raised in human society), Vin is a consummate outsider. He’s been working with the Sczarni as a fixer for two human lifetimes. His skills are countless, but his true passion is practical alchemy, and he’s beginning to grow weary of the Life and looking to go at least (mostly) straight. His work and expertise have done him well though, and he has the kit to show it. He’s currently in Sandpoint because he’d like to find somewhere to settle down in the next decade or two, and because he’s got a Sczarni contact in town as a potential source for regular work.
Koudelka Steelfist
Female Half-Orc Fighter (Brawler)
Chaotic Good
Campaign Trait: Monster Hunter
Strengths: Melee Combat, Some Outdoors Skills
A bastard out of the noble houses of Magnimar (she refuses to disclose which) and ardent worshiper of Gorum, Koudelka (or “Ko”, as she prefers to go by) has been making her living as a wandering monster hunter and tourney fighter along the Varisian coast. Fond of an “up close and personal” method of combat, her trademark is aggressive shield bashes followed up by a sharp hook from her spiked-gauntleted offhand. Rowdy and constantly spoiling for a fight, she is nonetheless good-natured, preferring rivals to enemies.
Solarious Mikkel
Male Human Wizard (Sword Binder)
Lawful Good
Campaign Trait: Scholar of the Ancients
Strengths: Battlefield Control, Ranged Combat, Knowledge Skills
Solarious is the third son of a moderately successful merchant family in Absalom. A strong adherent to the teachings of the dead god Aroden led him towards wizardry and swordplay at a young age. Quite the scholar, he has become convinced that clues to Aroden’s demise can be found in incalculable lost knowledge of the fallen Thassilonian Empire, and is currently staying in Sandpoint while chasing down leads on ruins and other potential sources of lost knowledge.
Curse of The Crimson Throne:
Murdock Beltram
Middle-Aged Male Tiefling (Devil-Spawn) Druid (Urban Druid)
Lawful Neutral
Campaign Trait: Betrayed
Strengths: Evocation, Face, Knowledge Skills
Murdock is a classic example of “checkered past”. As a youth, he came up through the criminal element alongside Gaedren Lam - a rival or an ally depending on the day. Gaedren eventually got the final one-up on Murdock, however, leaving him for dead among alleyway trash heaps. Murdock survived, and managed to supply enough information on Gaedren’s operations at the time to convince the city watch to give him a second chance. In the years since, he’s become a devoted disciple of Alseta and something of a community leader and organizer (his player may select which neighborhood or district Murdock lives and operates in). While he has come to treasure the law and order approach to the world, he is aware of the rampant corruption in Korvosa - and over the decades just can’t seem to let go that Gaedren is still out there.
Vyv Lorsen
Female Human Ranger (Urban Ranger)
Chaotic Good
Campaign Trait: Missing Child
Strengths: Melee Combat, Traps, Skill Monkey
By day, Vyv works as a general store clerk in one of the lower-middle-class neighborhoods of Korvosa. By night, she embarks on a now months-long search for her missing son. Combining her knowledge of the city, natural athleticism, and a good bit of trial by error she’s become something of a local vigilante. Recently, she finally got a name out of someone: “Gaedren Lam”. (This won’t be immediately apparent on her level one character sheet, but Vyv is intended to go down the Calistrian Combat Style line).
Wira Eventrack
Female Halfling Sorcerer (Tattooed Sorcerer)
Neutral Good
Campaign Trait: Framed
Strengths: Transmutation, Stealth, Use Magic Device
Wira is a halfing orphan raised among the nomadic Varisian caravans. Discovering a talent for sorcery at a young age, she adopted her foster culture’s approach to harnessing that power. Desiring to see more of the world and expand her abilities, she successfully entered a Korvosan mage’s academy. The success was short-lived, however, when she soon found herself -inexplicably- the prime suspect in a back alley murder. Clearly framed, a fellow student was able to clear her with a confession from a paid-off witness, but the damage was done and she was ejected from the academy. Her classmate did pass along a name from the witness: “Gaedren Lam”.
Victor Lupei
Male Half-Elf Gunslinger (Bolt Ace)
Neutral Good
Campaign Trait: Lost Love (Orphaned)
Strengths: Ranged Combat, Secondary Skill Monkey
Victor has spent his entire life in Korvosa, though he’s something of a homebody. A gifted and self-taught engineer, he spent endless evenings disassembling, reassembling (and eventually improving) his city guard father’s crossbow. When Victor’s father got too close to busting Gaedren Lam, he was eliminated in a crass, undignified ambush in a back alley. The only suspect was a halfling studying at the academy, but that dissolved when a witness recanted. One of his father’s old friends in the guard passed along a name that came up when clearing the first suspect: “Gaedren Lam”.
Strange Aeons:
Special Note: Due to the unique amnesia element, details for these characters will be sparse. Additionally, you will all start with an alignment of True Neutral and actions/choices will have a bigger impact on alignment shifts than usual, so we can really explore the “Nature Vs. Nurture” element when your pasts are revealed.
Oona
Female Tiefling (Motherless) Spiritualist (Ectoplasmatist)
True Neutral
Campaign Trait: Sensitive Mind
Strengths: Melee Combat, Debuffs
Oona awakes from the dream dimly aware of her name, abyssal heritage, and psychic abilities but little else. Despite being a Tiefling - and a Qlippoth-spawn at that- she appears a perfectly normal (if a bit grungy and unkempt) human. However, prolonged observation will take note of the strange and unsettling ways her flesh periodically twitches and undulates, as though something were straining to break free of her flesh. (The grotesque mutations common to Motherless Tieflings are entirely internal in Oona’s unique case - specifically in the form of a massive series of muscular tumors that intermittently strain against the prison of her flesh.)
Lusian Cliff’s Edge
Male Rougarou Cleric (Separatist) of Groetus (Destruction, Revelry)
True Neutral
Campaign Trait: Pugnacious
Strengths: Melee Combat, Healing, Buffs
Lusian is powerfully built, with the scars and bruises of a lifetime scrapper. He awakens clutching his holy symbol of Groetus, the nihilistic god of the End Times. However, the powers he’s able to tap through his connection to his uncaring deity are out of step with Lusian’s academic understanding of the faith’s practices. Why does a follower of the herald of nothingness feel such joy at being alive?
Aloysius Pembroke
Male Old Half-Elf (Kindred-Raised) Bard (Magician)
True Neutral
Campaign Trait: Foe of The Strange
Strengths: Buffs, Skill Monkey, Face
An avuncular half-elf in his late nineties, Aloysius awakens clothed in the flashy garb of a stage magician - cheap tuxedo, lilly-white gloves, half cape, and the top hat of course. Despite the situation, he feels an even-handed certainty that he is among friends and that together they can surmount any horrors that may await them.
Marius Tucco
Male Human Bloodrager (Steelblood) Black Blood Bloodline
True Neutral
Campaign Trait: Enduring Stoicism
Strengths: Melee Combat, Buffs
A tall and muscular Chelaxian man clad in armor, Marius would look intimidating even in his sleep. His veins, dark and purplish, stand out starkly against his pale skin. He awoke battle-ready and confident that he would stride through any object or captor that stood between him and freedom and that his companions, if they had any sense, would follow in his considerable wake.
Well, those are the crews! Hope a few of them got your brain juices pumping. Submissions for writing samples will close Friday evening (roughly 8pm Central Time). Feel free to slip into the shoes of one of these knuckleheads for your submission - I know I have an easier time with a prompt.
(Any feedback or questions about these characters is also encouraged and appreciated.)
The samples I’ve gotten so far have really been excellent. You’re all gonna make selecting players a real struggle!
Knowing what class, might make it easier for me to come up with some creative writing.
Right now, I am drawing a blank, but I will have some creative writing up a bit later.
Apologies. I keep meaning to get quick character summaries up (not full sheets yet, but enough to give you an idea of what you would be playing) and I just... Keep getting pulled away from doing it. Will get it up later tonight.
Hi everyone! Just dropping in to confirm that I am in fact getting your submissions and reading them. Some really wonderful work here!
It's a busy weekend for me, but I plan to get a brief introduction to each party for each AP up soon so you can begin considering who you would like to play as.
Thanks again for taking a stab at my attempt to live vicariously through others! lol
I tend to be mechanics-crunchy in nature. Like the idea, but would totally depend on the character.
I'd flip it... Post links to the parties/characters, and see who's interested in playing them.
Rise of the Runelords for me out of those three.
Would one be free to multi-class, at level 2 onwards?
You are free to multi-class as you like. I won't enforce any sort of hard rules (other than no 3rd party and Unchained flavor Summoner only), but I would appreciate if we had a handshake agreement to keep with the spirit of the character (including how they may develop once they're out of my hands!).
If you're big on crunch/optimization, this might not be the group of pre-generated characters for you. In fact, this may be a good time to hit this home for everyone:
Important Note: While I built these characters to the best of my ability within their concept, many are built with what would be consider "sub-optimal" archetypes, concepts, etc. Because I just like to build characters I think are interesting and/or something I haven't messed around with before.
To emphasize this point: one of the three parties you'll be looking at has a Cloistered Cleric in the lineup. I'll trust your gut reaction to that information to help you decide whether this is the game for you.
Ah, just dusted this account off after ages of disuse with the hopes of jumping into some pbp and this game sounds excellent. Sad I didn’t see the thread sooner. Maybe buzz me if someone else drops (though for your sake I hope that doesn’t happen. I know what a hassle it can be getting games off the ground).
I'm waiting to hear back from a 5th player who was going to play a Druid but hasn't replied to my PMs. If they don't respond by end of the week, you're welcome.
Much appreciated! I've got an idea cooking, so if things work out that way it shouldn't take me too long to get it up.
I'm honestly very surprised I'm getting this much interest! The moment this popped into my head I found it very unlikely that folks would be interested in playing four nerds that I came up with.
Though I do suppose it gives it a smidge of a video game "choose your fighter" vibe.
So! I'm going to give this another day or two to get noticed by anyone else who's intrigued, then I'll move to the first stage of figuring out what we're going to play and who we're going to be.
Firstly, I've decided to curate the list of available APs to something much smaller, in order to make "voting" easier and more likely to result in a clear winner. Based on expressed interest so far, I think the three choices to go with are:
Rise of The Runelords
Curse of The Crimson Throne
Strange Aeons
As such, if you choose to apply, be certain that you're happy to play any of those three APs. I'll select four players based on a (short) writing/RP example.
Lastly, the four selected players will vote (I'm thinking the best way to do it is ranked-choice) on which AP to play in. I'll have posted the accompanying pre-generated party members to select from for each of those three APs by that point.
Any additional feedback over the next day or two is appreciated!
Yep. DEFINITELY interested. I think my AP preferences would be Curse of the Crimson Throne, or Rise of the Runelords. I was in two campaigns that died early on the vine with those. But i hear great things about Hell's Rebels and Ironfang invasion too.
It might be a fun challenge to take your characters and make them our own. If you go with this, I would definitely enter the 'try outs' ;)
How far and wide have you gone with your characters? For example is the much 3rd party stuff?
Zero 3rd party, not a fan.
From a starting point, the most recent iteration of any Paizo-published material is on the table, though I reserve the right to final review and may veto something I feel could be problematic.
I tend to favor flavorful/interesting archetypes and concepts, though do my best to optimize the character within the concept. Everyone is built on 20 point buy, with one campaign trait and a second trait appropriate to fleshing out the character. I tend to follow (though not 100% strictly) a party makeup philosophy of 3 CRB race characters and one character being something more exotic. Class-wise, I try to have one 9th level caster for arcane and divine (though sometimes I’ll do two sixth-level arcanes and one 9th-level divine or vice-versa), someone to handle traps and/or skill monkeying, and at least one full BAB class.
I think it would depend a lot on the variety of options and what AP, but I'm intrigued.
Oh good point, I’ll expand on that a little bit:
The complete APs I have for selected players to choose from is:
Rise of The Runelords
Curse of The Crimson Throne
Kingmaker
Carrion Crown
Iron Gods
Strange Aeons
The Ironfang Invasion
Hell’s Rebels
I’ll have a pre-crafted (with emphasis on thematic and mechanical tie-in to the associated AP) party of four adventurers for each AP, and the four selected players will decide amongst themselves which character each will take on.
After years of inactivity, I’ve dusted off this profile in the hopes of finding some PF1E pbp.
As there doesn’t seem to be much recruiting going on, I had an idea to throw out and get some feedback on, though I’m not expecting many to be into it (for a lot of reasons that occurred to me very quickly, but it keeps knocking around my head so let’s put it to rest).
I am an obsessive character maker, and it’s escalated to the point of regularly building entire pre-fab parties for specific APs or modules.
The odds of me getting to play even a fraction of these characters is extremely low, however I am quite fond of some of them.
So what do folks think about playing through an AP with a pre-generated party. The nuts and bolts of their backstory and their first level build would be set for you, but you’d be free to develop their personality and progression (both fluff and crunch-wise) from there.
Assuming anyone is interested in this idea, I figured I’d hold recruitment via short RP-writing submissions, then the selected group of four could vote on the list of complete APs I own and the pre-crafted party associated with each AP.
What do you think? Anyone interested in indulging me, or is not making your own character as unappealing an idea as I suspect it might be?
Ah, just dusted this account off after ages of disuse with the hopes of jumping into some pbp and this game sounds excellent. Sad I didn’t see the thread sooner. Maybe buzz me if someone else drops (though for your sake I hope that doesn’t happen. I know what a hassle it can be getting games off the ground).
I've been a semi-lurker for a good while on these boards, but I've honestly been so buried in the PBP forums I was largely unaware of a lot of the drama being discussed. :-/
Add me to the chorus of "really, really miss Mikaze".
So the Ectoplasmatist archetype for Spiritualist states in it's Spiritual Combat ability:
Spiritual Combat:
At 3rd level, as a full-round action, an ectoplasmatist can make all of her attacks with a single light or one-handed ectoplasmic lash wielded in one hand, and also cast a single spiritualist spell with a casting time of one standard action as a free action either before or after making the ectoplasmic lash attacks.
The ability says you can only use the light or one-handed version of the Ectoplasmic Lash, but it does not have specific language stating the other hand must be empty/free. As Psychic spells do not have somatic components, strictly as written this would mean you can have a shield in use in your other hand.
I searched the forum far and wide and did much googling, and have not found any sort of ruling that contradicts my above interpretation. If anyone knows of any rulings of any relevance to this, I'd appreciate hearing what you've got.
Cherry did some errand-running in her youth, though these days she tends to stick to bartending of the mostly-legal variety. Maybe met her a few years ago while she was a spunky teenager who was a bit more likely to get involved in bad business - before the death of her younger brother in a gang fight made her leery of spending time around the criminal element.
Oh, Sully and Cherry are in fact the exact same age! Sully was a street urchin up until about four years ago, when he began a tentative association with the local Sczarni (an arrangement he is now very much trying to get out of).
Anyone still looking for potential character backstory connections?
Anyone who occasionally ends up on the wrong side of the law or in the bad parts of town that's been in Riddleport the last year or more would have a chance of being acquainted with Sully (possibly for not particularly positive reasons!).
@DM Czernobog: By "standard character sheet" do you mean you have a specific formatting you require? I usually format each chunk of my sheet (i.e. "offense", "defense", "feats", etc.) behind a series of blocked spoilers, because I find that's the easiest way for my brain to keep track of everything, but if you have a specific formatting preference I can adhere to that.
Blegh. I'm having a lot of trouble with my fluff. Every time I get the creative juices flowing I come up with something that doesn't really fit the whole "regular folk" premise. I'm going back to the drawing board tonight, but if I can't get something up in time I'd like to thank EltonJ for the opportunity and for being great at answering questions and providing background materials.
My character is finished mechanically, but it took a good bit longer than I thought. I don't think I've rolled up a Sorcerer since 3.0, so there was a lot of re-acquainting to be done with the mechanics. I'm pretty burnt out on staring at my computer screen, so I'll get his fluff/backstory done in the next day or two and then post him.
He's at bit of a ne'er-do-well, with a nasty habit of pilfering that he just can't seem to shake, so I feel like there's a lot of submissions here that would make natural associates for him. :D
Gonna do an Inquisitor of Mystra. Haven't made up my mind on race yet, but I'm leaning pretty hard towards Half-Orc.
Two half-orcs won't be bad. You'll be headed to Hlondeth, so I suggest one of you play a nagaji.
That might be interesting. Do you have any links on what Nagaji in the Forgotten Realms' whole deal is? Do they have much going on in the way of Mystra worship? (I'm pretty familiar with FR, but most of it is post ToT, and I wasn't aware that there were Nagaji in the setting!)
@DM Default: This is a minor issue, but do we get our ethnic language for free? I'm about 70% done with my character and want to know if I need to use one of my bonus languages on Varisian or not.
Secondly, at the moment, I've got one of the new Second Darkness campaign traits slotted onto my guy (the ones I PMed you). If you decide to veto them, I will happily change it to one of the listed options.
I've got my submission (a Half-Orc Tattooed Protean Sorcerer with both a gambling and a five-finger discount problem) about 50% done, but my eyelids are getting quite heavy, so I'll have him up some time tomorrow.
@DM Default: Regarding campaign traits, they published three new ones in the Varisia sourcebook specifically meant for use with Second Darkness. Would you allow those to fill the campaign trait requirement for this game?
Edit: I ask because one of them is 100% perfect for the character I've settled on.
Have a Descent game going on, so I'll get to the rest by 6 MDT.
Does anyone object to using the Dynamic Spellcasting system in Advanced d20 Magic?
I have absolutely no idea what that is, so my initial response would be an objection. However, if it's not too much trouble to learn, or I end up choosing a class that doesn't have spells, then I would have no problem.
