So, after our regular game last night, I was informed that the next campaign we'll be playing is the Carrion Crown AP(as well as officially moving from 3.5 to PF rules), and all I can say is I am PUMPED! I'm a huge Ravenloft fanatic, having DM'ed at least 4 different campaigns in the setting, but never getting to be a PC. This is the closest I'll get, and looks pretty good to me.
Also, I've been a Castlevania fan since Simon's Quest(one of the things that drew me to Ravenloft in the first place). That said, I'm heavily leaning to making my character a Belmont-style monster hunter.
Ranger seems like the obvious choice, given the plethora of hunting skills and favored enemy bonuses, but I'm thinking of something a little different. I really liked Lord of Shadows' take on the Belmonts, with Gabriel being from a holy order, not just a mercenary or legacy hunter.
I truthfully don't have a lot of experience with the newer Pathfinder classes, so do you guys think Inquisitor would be more appropriate, or just a Ranger with Knowledge: Religion and FE: undead?
I'll try to point Tarouk back to this thread for ya, but I believe he's going ranger with those knowledge skills and a trait to boost them.
Inquisitor should be a solid choice as well though. It would be one of my top choices for certain flavors of Belmont. I don't have any hands-on experience with playing one yet, but from what I've seen they can be scary effective against they chosen prey. It certainly gives you an extra "holy warrior" vibe as well, if that's what you're going for.
I rolled up my character, and chose to go with Inquisitor. The class really does have the "holy, but not good and shiny" kind of feel to it, the gritty "get it done at any cost" mentality I feel a Belmont(Gabriel especially) would have. Took to worshiping Calistria, for both story reasons and the handy-dandy whip proficiency.
The similarities to a Belmont are going to end there, however. I just based this character in feel and style off of Gabriel, but he has his own story to tell. I have played in some games in the past where we literally converted a famous media character to the setting just for fun. This was just for inspiration.
So my group recently decided to play this adventure and we're well on our way to building a castlevania party already. I mentioned the possibility to the group and another player instantly called dibs on the Grant Danasty character, as a daggermaster rogue. A second player voiced the opinion of playing a necromancer-style character based on the idea that the campaign will let you take a morally-flexible route through the adventure. He loves oracles so the oracle of bones is a good fit, and upon finding out that there was a dhampir race he snatched it- thus giving us an Alucard analog (not perfect but the class is a good fit for a dhampir).
This is great and all, but of the remaining three players I'm the only one with a love of Castlevainia, leaving The Belmont to me (this isn't a bad thing, I'm kind of excited) but I'm left with a problem. With a necromancer in the party, one that has the intend of raising the dead in fact, and an overall atmosphere off not playing as lawful-good smite them all and let the deities sort them out attitude, my options for playing a Belmont are constricted. Furthermore, I'm not sure how good a whip character really is- there's a lot more support for them now, but they still seem iffy.
So what should I do? Inquisitors seem a bit too zealous to team up with a necromancer, and I'd like to know what a whip can do. I'm considering an archaeologist bard, as I like the high skill character, and I think It could play the investigator role really well- as well as being quite a bit more combat friendly than the archivist and detective archetypes- but is a whip-based bard any good? Is this too Indiana Jones-y?
Minstrel -
The whip is neat for combat maneuvers, but pretty terrible for actually killing things. The scorpion whip added with Ultimate Combat deals 1d4 lethal damage. Of course, with your self buffs, that may work out fine.
For a more Belmont-y killing weapon, I'd suggest using a flail. That's what the Vampire Killer always upgrades into, anyways.
Lastly, the inquisitor may not necessarily be upset with the necromancer friend. While most of the neutral gods probably don't like undead, some of them may not be terribly upset with them either. An inquisitor of Abadar or Gorum (especially Gorum) may be perfectly happy to look the other way (or even help out with reanimation) while the important prey remains to be hunted.
Minstrel -
The whip is neat for combat maneuvers, but pretty terrible for actually killing things. The scorpion whip added with Ultimate Combat deals 1d4 lethal damage. Of course, with your self buffs, that may work out fine.
For a more Belmont-y killing weapon, I'd suggest using a flail. That's what the Vampire Killer always upgrades into, anyways.
Lastly, the inquisitor may not necessarily be upset with the necromancer friend. While most of the neutral gods probably don't like undead, some of them may not be terribly upset with them either. An inquisitor of Abadar or Gorum (especially Gorum) may be perfectly happy to look the other way (or even help out with reanimation) while the important prey remains to be hunted.
Actually, I was poking around in Ultimate Combat and noticed the nine-section whip. It actually might be exactly what I need, here's the stats:
Nine-section whip 8 gp 1d6 1d8 19–20/×2 — 3 lbs. B blocking, distracting, monk, trip
It lacks a flail's disarm abilities, but it gains blocking, distracting, and a 19-20 critical range.
The reason is that if I'm spending a feat to gain a weapon (neither the bard nor the inquisitor are proficient with flails) I might as well go exotic.
Thoughts?
Random note, in my Carrion Crown campaign, we have a player who wanted to play an Inquisitioner with a family history for fighting monsters and evil, like the Belmonts.
Only thing is, he couldn't think of a family name for the life of him. He's really bad at thinking up names. I told him I'd call him Belmont until he came up with a name. Then, about halfway through the first module, I got tired of calling him that, and just offhandedly started calling him Belmondo!
It stuck. Everyone loved it and started calling him that, and it was just hilarious, and awesome, and he digs it.
For reference's sake, when saying "Belmondo," if you don't say it with a ridiculously dramatic flair, you're doing it wrong. It helps if you add a musical sting on the end.
So we finally started our first session tonight with our castlevania themed group. Ended up going well, having all the characters related by a single family of hunters like ours with a good bit of backstory we developed has really paid off in the long run it would seem. I'm about to create a character journal thread for our PC's so we can record our adventure. I'll post a link here as soon as I have a chance.
Oh, everyone congratulate Mikaze on at last finishing Crimson Throne! He worked long and hard at it!
*applaud*
Random note, in my Carrion Crown campaign, we have a player who wanted to play an Inquisitioner with a family history for fighting monsters and evil, like the Belmonts.
Only thing is, he couldn't think of a family name for the life of him. He's really bad at thinking up names. I told him I'd call him Belmont until he came up with a name. Then, about halfway through the first module, I got tired of calling him that, and just offhandedly started calling him Belmondo!
It stuck. Everyone loved it and started calling him that, and it was just hilarious, and awesome, and he digs it.
For reference's sake, when saying "Belmondo," if you don't say it with a ridiculously dramatic flair, you're doing it wrong. It helps if you add a musical sting on the end.
I'm going to play the party Belmont, and yes, I'm having this problem myself- I can't figure out a good replacement, because my brain keeps yelling "Belmont!"
I'm going to play the party Belmont, and yes, I'm having this problem myself- I can't figure out a good replacement, because my brain keeps yelling "Belmont!"
Try calling out "Belmondo!" in a dramatic voice, and fire up a brief Mariachi sting on an mp3 player, iphone, or whatever; and see how that fits you. It worked wonders for us.
Try calling out "Belmondo!" in a dramatic voice, and fire up a brief Mariachi sting on an mp3 player, iphone, or whatever; and see how that fits you. It worked wonders for us.I'm going to play the party Belmont, and yes, I'm having this problem myself- I can't figure out a good replacement, because my brain keeps yelling "Belmont!"
Tempting...
wouldn't it kind of hurt the horror atmosphere? (In my group keeping a serious atmosphere is a pipe dream anyway, it doesn't really need help from...Belmondo!
Actually, part of my character's back story is that an ancestor some years in the past (a couple centuries or so)fell to vampirism, and rose to power, the family has been trying to undo his damage all this time. Most could fight the ancestor directly, and they don't know where he is, so they make due by fighting evil wherever they find it.
Are there any powerful Ustalavi vampires that could fill this role? Maybe I could use that surname.
Try calling out "Belmondo!" in a dramatic voice, and fire up a brief Mariachi sting on an mp3 player, iphone, or whatever; and see how that fits you. It worked wonders for us.I'm going to play the party Belmont, and yes, I'm having this problem myself- I can't figure out a good replacement, because my brain keeps yelling "Belmont!"
Tempting...
wouldn't it kind of hurt the horror atmosphere? (In my group keeping a serious atmosphere is a pipe dream anyway, it doesn't really need help from...Belmondo!
Actually, part of my character's back story is that an ancestor some years in the past (a couple centuries or so)fell to vampirism, and rose to power, the family has been trying to undo his damage all this time. Most could fight the ancestor directly, and they don't know where he is, so they make due by fighting evil wherever they find it.
Are there any powerful Ustalavi vampires that could fill this role? Maybe I could use that surname.
Take your pick. Ashes at Dawn is full of 'em. Try Rule of Fear if you'd rather not be meeting your ancestor in the undead flesh.
Take your pick. Ashes at Dawn is full of 'em. Try Rule of Fear if you'd rather not be meeting your ancestor in the undead flesh.Try calling out "Belmondo!" in a dramatic voice, and fire up a brief Mariachi sting on an mp3 player, iphone, or whatever; and see how that fits you. It worked wonders for us.I'm going to play the party Belmont, and yes, I'm having this problem myself- I can't figure out a good replacement, because my brain keeps yelling "Belmont!"
Tempting...
wouldn't it kind of hurt the horror atmosphere? (In my group keeping a serious atmosphere is a pipe dream anyway, it doesn't really need help from...Belmondo!
Actually, part of my character's back story is that an ancestor some years in the past (a couple centuries or so)fell to vampirism, and rose to power, the family has been trying to undo his damage all this time. Most could fight the ancestor directly, and they don't know where he is, so they make due by fighting evil wherever they find it.
Are there any powerful Ustalavi vampires that could fill this role? Maybe I could use that surname.
I have no problem meeting my clans ancestor, but I don't want to read ashes at dawn, for I don't want spoilers. And the only one I noticed in rule of fear is Ristomaur Tiriac, who might work, but I'm not sure...
So we finally started our first session tonight with our castlevania themed group. Ended up going well, having all the characters related by a single family of hunters like ours with a good bit of backstory we developed has really paid off in the long run it would seem. I'm about to create a character journal thread for our PC's so we can record our adventure. I'll post a link here as soon as I have a chance.
Oh, everyone congratulate Mikaze on at last finishing Crimson Throne! He worked long and hard at it!
*applaud*
And yeah, the family angle is really paying off both for party cohesion and chemistry.
We've got the CV3 formula covered pretty well. But if there are clock towers with floating heads I am going to be so upset.
Take your pick. Ashes at Dawn is full of 'em. Try Rule of Fear if you'd rather not be meeting your ancestor in the undead flesh.I have no problem meeting my clans ancestor, but I don't want to read ashes at dawn, for I don't want spoilers. And the only one I noticed in rule of fear is Ristomaur Tiriac, who might work, but I'm not sure...
Fair enough. Luckily I'm a DM.
Zunaida is a fair surname. Kote is a better one, it has more potential for a good/evil spar. Lamorath is also fair, it gives a nice subtle tie to your character.
Of course there is always Giovanni.
Alternatively, there are a fat stack of unnamed vampires available. Talk to your GM, he might be willing to give some unnamed vampire noble your character's surname and then you can have that uncomfortable family reunion.
Avoid the surname Tiriac, he ends up having nothing to do with the AP and is way too old for your purposes, IMO. Also avoid Siervage, he's also too old for your purposes.