1: it sounds to me like you are looking for something like Chaotic Neutral or Chaotic Evil depending on how you playing
Schizophrenic is definitely chaotic, as is the “judge that kills” part. The bit about recognizing mankind’s potential makes me lean more towards the Neutral side than Evil, as you kill people who are “not living up to their potential” rather than “just because you felt like it”, which the latter would also fit well with the Chaotic part =P
2: Totally normal for PCs to have hidden agenda, at least at my Roleplaying sessions (this is part of what makes it less Rollplaying for my group) and you should not be worried about not telling your party about everything you do/want/feel/etc. It seems like you would want to invest in bluff and diplomacy a fair bit, possibly even sense motive so you can tell when others are catching onto your deceptions/half truthes/etch. Nothing special would be required in roleplaying this, just say what your character would say, and as long as your DM knows what your hidden agenda is, he will have you make bluff/diplomacy rolls as needed, or make them in secret for you.
3: Regarding the classes: just remember, they are skeletons basically. Your feats/skill choices/stats/actions dictate so much more than what your base class does (for the most part). If you let us know what kinds of things you are hoping to do with your character, we may be able to make some suggestions to you. Are you more of a melee class, or more of a mage class? I see you played FFXI (me too! Woot ~Fenrir Server~) are you trying to emulate a class from that, or another game? If so, we can show you some tricks on how to do it ~_0
4: Skills are basically the mundane (for the most part) tasks you do. Can you run/jump/climb/swim/pick locks/speak a lot of languages/are you book smarts/etc
Feats are special modifications to your character that let you bend/ignore/take better advantage of rules in the system (combat reflexes lets you get more Attacks of Opportunity than your normal one per round; extend spell will make your magic last for twice as long; etc)
Spells are magic affects that let you break reality: produce fire/lightning/other element from nothing and have it go boom; make you grow to giant sized or shrink to the size of a child; make you fly or allow you to move through stone and earth as if it were water. Spells are pretty much everything you could ever want to do.
There are a lot of pregenerated spells/abilities/etc in the game, but each one has a multitude of different applications, unlike most MMOs/video games. A Grease spell may just make someone fall over in a video game, but in a pen & paper rpg, it can be used to make you ridiculously difficult to wrestle with; or make a weapon impossible (almost) to hold onto.
Disable device can be used to pick locks/disable traps/take a wagon wheel off a cart or make it fall off after it has traveled a ways. Its all about creativity and now being hampered by “game walls” as you have with other video games. Don’t get me wrong, I play my share of video games, but nothing is as good as a pen & paper RPG.
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1. Lawful doesn't necessarily mean you follow the actual laws of a place. It actually rarely does. Almost all PC's kill with relative impunity. Even when it's not murder its frequently manslaughter. Anyway, as long as you rigidly follow some code, as you seem to want to, I think Lawful Evil is the right alignment.
2.Feel free to have the whole group in on your deceptions. If they're good roleplayers they won't let it affect them. I strongly urge you to stay away from really pissing off your group, though. No fun for anyone.
3. Check out the APG playtest classes. I've had a lot of fun with the Summoner and Inquisitor. As a judge-type fella, you might also really enjoy the Inquisitor.
4. The difference is mainly in power level and how much you can use them. You get say 6 skill points per level as an Inquisitor with a 10 in Intelligence. If you got 7 feats or 7 spells the game would be wildly unbalanced. You get feats less frequently and they are moderately powerful but you can use them any number of times per day (usually). Spells are gained at a different rate and can be much more powerful but each casting (except for level 0 spells) burns up a usage for the day.
Also you might find d20pfsrd.com useful as it is a hyperlinked and easily accessed rulebook for you.
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I agree completely with Baijin in all aspects.
If you let us know what you want to play we can help you figure out good combinations. The classes may seem a little one sided at first but once you start to play and gain experience as a player you will start to see all of the cool combos and different things you can do with a table top pen and paper game.
I 150% agree that pen and paper games have much more freedom and customization than any MMO or video game will ever have.
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Wow, thanks for the quick reply. :-) What I had in mind for a class was something pretty specialize... like... a mage support or something. Like the FFXI equivalent of refresh and spells that raise mage stats or cut down on spellcast time or something (based on the water element... the character is somewhat o a shaman). The problem is, I'm not sure if any of these translate well into the game. :S On top of being a mage support I would ideally be a light DD with maybe some water based damaging spells and melee capabilities with sword + kite shield (like FFXI PLD :P). I am not too worried about min-maxing (I was in FFXI) as much as I am just having a fun time with cool utility spells as well as having a unique role in the party that no one else can claim.
Oh and one more question I forgot to ask, do I make my character with my fellow players or do I make it on my own time and bring it along? Also, I have no one AT ALL to play with. None of my friends are too interesting in pen & paper RPGs, they are more about automatic gaming as opposed to manual gaming if you get my drift. I'm just looking for somehting refreshing and social.
I'm pretty young (19) and "hip", would it be hard to find a group of people that would play with someone like me? It doesn't matter to me who I play with, but they might care who I am haha.
Class wise I would recommend a druid or cleric for buffs. The ability to use weapons and shield more so cleric. Spells that help increase the spellcasting ability of other spellcasters (or your own) would be spells that buff the mental stats, INT (for Wizards, Witches, and Alchemists), WIS (for Clerics, Druids, Rangers, Paladins, and Inquisitors), and CHA (for Sorcerers, Summoners, and Oracle), which are Fox's Cunning, Owl's Wisdom, and Eagle's Splendor respectively. They are higher level spells but they are nice ones for a little boost. There are other buff spells as well that are nice but don't really help with increasing spellcasting (besides those I already listed) or decrease spellcasting time.
It really depends on the GM, some GMs have you make it right in front of them and others allow you to bring a character (as long as it doesn't look like you cheated). But different GMs are different so you might want to wait and "make" the character there, but that doesn't mean you can't plan your character out ahead of time. Make the character as you want it and modify it as needed when you actually make the character. This is also good cause some GMs have different house rules (rules that they made up or core rules that they changed) or different ways at making characters that you can't predict.
You shouldn't have to much trouble finding someone to play with. If you have a local gaming store it should be easy to find someone there that is looking for a new player or someone who could lead you to someone else. And even if you don't just ask around at schools or colleges and you are sure to find someone if not a group of people.
-The character I have in mind is somewhat of a schizophrenic, but not really. He believes himself to be somewhat of a judge, seeing no worth in mankind but recognizing the potential. He conforms to society and is very charismatic, but has a strong desire to kill anyone he believes shallow in character or just downright deplorable (think Dexter meets American Psycho, but to an extreme).
So two classic sociopaths are not extreme enough for your idea.....
Baijin did a good job answering your questions I just have to add that I like your concept and if you haven't already read the book you should. The part I liked most about the American Psycho book was the fact that the main character was faking human interaction to the point of collapse between real and fake. I think if played right you might have the only viable CN character choice, in my experience most CN players were just being evil without all the penalties.
Wow, thanks for the quick reply. :-) What I had in mind for a class was something pretty specialize... like... a mage support or something. Like the FFXI equivalent of refresh and spells that raise mage stats or cut down on spellcast time or something (based on the water element... the character is somewhat o a shaman). The problem is, I'm not sure if any of these translate well into the game. :S On top of being a mage support I would ideally be a light DD with maybe some water based damaging spells and melee capabilities with sword + kite shield (like FFXI PLD :P). I am not too worried about min-maxing (I was in FFXI) as much as I am just having a fun time with cool utility spells as well as having a unique role in the party that no one else can claim.
Classes are what you make of them. With this concept, I would say you might be best off modifiying a Bard. Bards have the weapon selection you want and are very good at enhancing what other classes do with buffing spells and abilities; unfortunately there are only limited ways you can enhance another spell caster. If you don't like the 'performance' aspect of the bard you can talk to your DM about modifying it to some other action that boosts spell-casters.
The main problem that I see with this concept is that other spellcasters seldom actually need enhancing, at least not compared to the other classes, and that enhancements for them are not all that effective anyway. It is certainly an interesting idea, though.
Oh and one more question I forgot to ask, do I make my character with my fellow players or do I make it on my own time and bring it along? Also, I have no one AT ALL to play with. None of my friends are too interesting in pen & paper RPGs, they are more about automatic gaming as opposed to manual gaming if you get my drift. I'm just looking for somehting refreshing and social.
With something like this, you definitely need to know what the rest of the group have planned, and you need to talk to the DM to make sure he is happy with the idea and can help you make the changes that you want. If you want to enhance casters and they are all rogues and fighters, you have a problem. Likewise if you are joining an existing group, you may need to take something that fills a gap in the existing party rather than your favourite concept. Don't be surprised if they greet you with the words: "Great! We need an XYZ type character!" that is nothing like your idea. When I joined my group some years ago, I wanted to play a monk ... they needed a healer. I'm not fond of clerics, so I ended up playing a spirit shaman, but it was actually a really good character, and after a few sessions I wouldn't have changed it for the world.
I'm pretty young (19) and "hip", would it be hard to find a group of people that would play with someone like me? It doesn't matter to me who I play with, but they might care who I am haha.
Unlikely to be a problem, my current group has a broad spectrum of ages and backgrounds - at 44 I'm the oldest, our youngest is currently 22 but we have had players from 16 onwards.
Edit: One thing I will add, that some groups don't like 'evil' characters, and unfortunately I can't think of a way of describing your concepts alignment in any way but evil ... possibly a very ruthless lawful neutral, but killing anyone you think is wasting their life is definitely on the evil side.
1. None of the alignments fit the description of my (ideal) character's personality. I imagine the descriptions are not concrete but even then it's kind of a tricky situation.
-The character I have in mind is somewhat of a schizophrenic, but not really. He believes himself to be somewhat of a judge, seeing no worth in mankind but recognizing the potential. He conforms to society and is very charismatic, but has a strong desire to kill anyone he believes shallow in character or just downright deplorable (think Dexter meets American Psycho, but to an extreme). In this sense he should be Lawful Evil, but he is not "Lawful" as he is a murderer. Maybe I am looking too much into the details, but how would this be resolved?2. This question/concern has to do with my character's personality as well. He is very deceiving, and fakes 100% of his human interactions. How would this be role played? Is it common for characters to have hidden agendas? Would the other PCs have to...
1.) after reading this a few times this is sounding like lawful neutral to me. You state that your character is a judge, conforms to society and i assume its laws. that sounds like lawful. you also want to kill shallow or deplorable people. so far your leaning more towards the good end than the evil end. you also state that your character is very deceiving and falsifies his interactions, which is not good, but not evil either. so again i am aiming for neutral in that regard. Killing in most cities or countries is against the law, however depending on the game, some countries are OK with the death of most of the people your character despises. Also in most games I've played, laws get fuzzy out of towns and in the wilderness.
A paladin's main job is to kill and murderer, often brutally, evil creatures, sometimes before they've even done anything evil. but doing this does not make them evil or chaotic.
Alignments are often wishy washy and when it comes down to it, unless your a paladin or other class that has alignment restrictions, choose what makes sense and if the GM and other players don't think your alignment is right for your character the GM will have you alter it, which shouldn't be a big deal if you were OK with evil in the first place.
2.) As for hidden agendas, I recommend first to talk to the GM. ask him what he thinks is best, as he should have at least a minimal grasp on the other player's personalities. If he is OK with just him knowing then you should hopefully be OK, if he recommends telling the others then do so. In doubt tell the other players. Will it effect the role playing sessions if they have such knowledge? Yes. But I think it would be fair to them to know, and if the other players are good, then they will try to their fullest to not use that info when deciding their players choices. Playing a character with knowledge that they do not have is called "metagaming," and if a player starts using such knowledge and is biased kindly point out that they should not be. however even the best of us metagame a littlebit subconsciously so don't feel bad if you need to point it out. And Remember, all characters have secrets, and that is OK to keep secret, however a secret that could cause harm to the other characters or opposes the other characters is an agenda, so be sure to make sure which is which because they can sometimes be hard to tell, ask the dm if in doubt.
3) Basically any spell casting class fits your idea (cleric, wizard, sorcerer, bard) all of them have support spells. if you want to go melee and have a sheild your best bet is druid or cleric. if your ok without the shield bard is good. sorcerer and wizard are not good in melee and armor at all. all of these classes have good support spells, and can do what you want. there are very few "water" like spells, the closest things you will find are cold spells or fog/cloud spells. However I have always been for flavoring the spells however you like, so if your "magic missle" spell happens to be a cool looking water lance, that's great to me and if your buff spells are fluffed to be water based that will probably be fine too. Usually a dm will be fine with that.(most will probably love it if you fluff up your spells)
Characters and players) As the above posters state, character creation is different with every group. in my current campaign i had the players make their characters at the game or at least in front of me (cannot remember) and in my friends campaign he is just having us all bring x lv characters. I highly recommend asking questions about the game in question and tailoring your character to the world. you will have more fun. you might have to make a few slight tweaks to the character but it should basically be the same, and having ties to the world makes the character that much more fun to play. Having a character that you want to play but doesn't fit the game can get old quick (i know from experience in this field)
As for groups, this can be hard. if you are in college or entering college you can put up a sign in your dorm looking for players, and you will probably get a few people sniffing around. Another is check out video game or anime clubs. I always find people in these clubs who are interested in D&D, oftentimes more than the clubs they are in. Lastly, I recommend persuading your friends to give it a try. ask them to humor you or tell them the worst that could happen if you all play is you spend a day hanging out. This route is the best and the worst. best because your with friends and you feel comfortable with them, and you will all be new. worst is you will probably be the one game mastering, which means that you will not get to play your character.
However, once you get the hang of it, game mastering is the best, hands down.
A paladin's main job is to kill and murderer, often brutally, evil creatures, sometimes before they've even done anything evil. but doing this does not make them evil or chaotic.
That's very questionable. Killing an evil person before they have done anything evil is not killing an evil creature, because alignment is detirmined by actions. In some games where some creatures are evil 'by nature' this is acceptable. In some where they aren't, it's murder, an evil act in and of itself.
Besides, this character is not killing those who are evil, he is killing those he feels are deplorable or wasting their lives. That definition can mean almost anyone - an artist can be said to be producing nothing useful, and is therefore 'wasting his life.' A person deciding to till the earth rather than study magic (assuming they are able to and have the opportunity) could be defined as 'wasting their ability'. Also one of the examples he gave was a serial killer ...
If he had said killing those who are evil, I'd say Lawful Neutral to Lawful Good. But he isn't ... he's not concerned with the lives and rights of others, only his own code. That's bordering evil in my book.
1. None of the alignments fit the description of my (ideal) character's personality. I imagine the descriptions are not concrete but even then it's kind of a tricky situation.
Talk to the GM about this. The GM is the GameMaster, the guy who runs the game and has the final say about everything in the game, including the rules, how they are interpreted, and how they are modified to better suit the gaming group.
Of course, a good GM asks his players for input whenever appropriate, but his is the final word...
You should ask him about his views on alignment (they can differ wildly and widely). Tell him about your character and ask him to tell you what he think the alignment would be.
-The character I have in mind is somewhat of a schizophrenic, but not really. He believes himself to be somewhat of a judge, seeing no worth in mankind but recognizing the potential. He conforms to society and is very charismatic, but has a strong desire to kill anyone he believes shallow in character or just downright deplorable (think Dexter meets American Psycho, but to an extreme). In this sense he should be Lawful Evil, but he is not "Lawful" as he is a murderer. Maybe I am looking too much into the details, but how would this be resolved?
Lawful does not necessarily have to mean "fanatically adheres to every law".
In fact, on Pathfinder's "default" game world Pathfinder Chronicles (which takes place mainly in the Inner Sea Region on the planet Golarion), there is one very infamous assassins' guild that is LE. They follow a deity that is the god of assassins and the assassin of the gods. Murder is, of course, illegal in most places, but their lawfulness stems from their personal codes. For example, they guarantee that their marks will die and remain dead. If the guy is raised from the dead, they will go and kill him again. And again, and again...
They also do not accept contracts to kill kings, just as their deity will not kill a true god.
I'd peg your character as LE: He has a personal code of conduct (kill shallow/bad people) and doesn't sound like he'd be merciful on those he wants to kill. Plus, killing people just because they're not that nice or decent is probably quite evil.
He has several landmarks of the LE villain: He has some code, considers himself to be "better than" or "above" other evildoers, because his evil has its limits (he won't kill a decent person, just those who offend his code).
Reminds me a bit of the Operative from the Serenity movie. That guy ruthlessly killed to create a better world for good people - but knew he would have no place in that better world, because he was a monster.
2. This question/concern has to do with my character's personality as well. He is very deceiving, and fakes 100% of his human interactions. How would this be role played? Is it common for characters to have hidden agendas? Would the other PCs have to be aware of his true personality off stage, or just the DM? How could authenticated role playing scenarios carry out if the players are biased about the interactions?
Boost your bluff score as far as it gets and then some. Your character will have to be able to fake emotions and the like.
If you keep this information from your fellow party members (the other player characters), you keep it from them. Whether you keep it from the other players (those guys sitting at the table with you playing this game) is something you best talk over with the GM. Some GMs don't want that sort of intrigue going on at the gaming table, and some players react negatively at finding out they have been "deceived". Others live for this stuff.
Sometimes it's more fun to have secrets from character and player alike, but sometimes, it's fun to have the players know. (But not everybody can keep his player and character knowledge separate)
I have something like this going on in a campaign I run right now: The party rogue seems to be a human (and the other players think so, too), but he's actually a dark elf tasked with gathering information about the world above and establish contacts for a larger emergence of these drow on the surface, trading with the locals (this takes place in a country that puts trade above all, so they probably will be welcome).
3. None of the core classes appease me. The lore of the classes do not fit my character, nor do the abilities. What I am mainly asking is if it is possible to make your own class. I read somewhere about playing a race outside of the core races, but it was for more advanced players. How do I go about making my own class?
Talk to the GM about allowing non-standard material in his game.
If he allows it, you could do basically everything. What is allowed varies from GM to GM.
Note that creating your own class is everything but easy, especially if you want it to be balanced with other classes (and you probably want that, if only so the GM will allow the class in his game).
It's important, though, to remember that the lore is just a suggestion. Again, tell the GM about the character and ask him for class suggestions.
Going with what you have said about the character, I do think that several classes could fit: A rogue, for example, would be good at all the subterfuge you need to fake a whole personality, and his combat abilities are well suited to the role of underhanded murderer. Or you want someone who's good at fighting and become a fighter, being able to dole out physical punishment consistently (you can still put some of your skill points into bluff). Maybe bard will work, too. They are great at skills and naturally charismatic - and gain magic dealing with social interaction to boot, which can further boost your fake personality.
4. What are the differences between skills, feats, and spells? In my mind they all seem very similar.
Skills are things you can train steadily, becoming better in increments: Diplomacy, stealth, bluff, ride, climb... These are, well, skills you can gradually become better at. You invest skill points into skills each level, and skill checks are rolled with a d20 + the key ability modifier + ranks in that skill + some misc stuff.
Example: Your rogue wants to tell a simple lie. He is level 3 and has 3 ranks in Bluff (level = maximum ranks in a skill), cha 16 (for +3) and another +3 because Bluff is a class skill for rogues. That's a total bonus of +9. You'll roll a d20 and add 9 (and you'll need to beat the target's sense motive roll). This is a simple lie, like "No, I did not see anything suspicious". Lies that are less believable or put the target in danger will get penalties. For example, "You know me, I'm here all the time, I just forgot my security pass, you can let me into the high security lab!" will probably get you something of -30 if the guy has never seen you and will be fired (or fired AT) when word gets out that he lets strangers into the Lab!"
Note that using weapons is not a skill - it is instead handled with the BAB (base attack bonus) and so on, which is at a fixed rate for each class. Other game systems would make weaponry a skill or skills, but Pathfinder is quite combat centric and being able to make attacks is considered a core ability, and also something that is dependant on what class you are - a fighter is better at fighting than a rogue.
Note that magic is not a skill, either - it is handled with spellcasting, which is dependant on the class you choose and the level you have. What magic you can use and how you use it depends on your class.
These special cases are a side effect of a class and level based system.
Feats are one-time abilities you can acquire. You get a feat roughly every other level (though several classes gain extra feats from limited lists, and some races get some feats for free). They let you specialise in some activity or field of expertise (like getting better in a certain skill, or with a certain weapon, or with a certain school of magic), make difficult activities that require special training easier (like fighting with two weapons at once, which is something that is hard without special training), or allow you to take actions that were quite impossible before (like learning how to trade accuracy for sheer brutality to make attacks that are less likely to hit but will deal more damage)
Spells are magic effects. They're not just something that depend on your training (like simply being good at lying, or being a good swordsman on account of your training and experience), but are supernatural powers you can unleash, like throwing fireballs at people, take the form of a dragon, or run at preternatural speeds (or simply travelling hundreds of miles in an instant by taking a magical shortcut)
Oh and one more question I forgot to ask, do I make my character with my fellow players or do I make it on my own time and bring it along?
You'll have to check with your GM for that, too. It's probably best that he'll be with you to create the first character, telling you about the character generation conventions (there are approximately a killion ways to generate ability scores, some depend on rolling dice and the GM will usually witness those rolls to see that they're legit).
I'm pretty young (19) and "hip", would it be hard to find a group of people that would play with someone like me?
Depends.
It doesn't matter to me who I play with, but they might care who I am haha.
Believe me, it will matter to you who you play with, or at least it should.
Basically, if you're a decent person and good at making friends and acquaintances, it should not be too much of a problem to find a group.
Not every group is right for everyone, though. There is, of course, the "personal chemistry" (i.e. if you get along with someone) in general (this is a social game, after all), but people have different play styles and those styles sometimes clash - and people who can be great friends usually just cannot play the game together (or at least not without a good talk beforehand to clarify things).
And sometimes, you'll get some creeps. I don't want to scare you - those actual horror stories that circulate the web sometimes are probably the exception, something like one-in-a-million), but less extreme versions of people that are not fun to be around exist.
I have the personal policy that I won't play with people I wouldn't mind doing other stuff with. I don't have to be best friends and life-long buddies with everyone at the table, but if there's someone at the table that annoys me to the point that I leave the gaming table more stressed than when I sat down, this isn't working.
You should get the hang of that, but I think it's important to point out that you shouldn't force yourself to play with people you're uncomfortable with just so you can play - often it just means that the game is less fun that it could be, but sometimes, a bad experience like this can turn people off the game - not because they didn't like the game per se, but because some idiots scared them away with some stupid house rules and table rules and antisocial behaviour.
Keep in mind that the game is built around 'heroic' groups. An evil character will likely cause friction in the group(and decrease your enjoyment). Having said that, like others have already pointed out, work it out with your GM. He may be interested in running a game where the whole group has edgy characters and you would fit right in.
Looking for a game- First try all local game stores(within a distance youare willing to drive). Many of them have a board where you can post you are looking for a game. You may end up trying several different groups before finding one you seem to mesh with the best. Also try messageboards(including this one, there is a gamer connection section near the bottom). And last, you can always try to get involved in a play-by-post game. There are many sites that have these, including here.