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Hi there! I was looking at a new character for PFS and I was looking at a backstory for a "former" Red Mantis Assassin. I am not looking for a build here but for ideas on why would a Red Mantis Assassin join the Society and be loyal to the Decemvirate. Ideas so far: blood debt to a member of the decemvirate, political/enemies within the Red Mantis, reformed assassin looking for vengeance against his former colleagues, but nothing concrete. Would anybody mind helping me out?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Well, first, figure out what sucked experience levels out of you so that you turned from somebody with ranks in a prestige class into a 1st-level Pathfinder agent.
I'm not being snotty. Something happened to the character. Figure that out, and the motivation for joining the Pathfinders may present itself.
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I also got a few options/ideas:
- Put GM credits into the new character to represent the experience and start playing the character around level 5 or 6. The character wouldn't have the actual prestige class obviously but it doesn't matter, I'll try to figure out how to emulate it through various options.
- What if the character trained to be one, hence the fighting style, etc. but failed the test for some reason (is there a test to become a Red Mantis?)
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Yeah, what is difficult here is that there is already a prestige class to reflect this class. Does it mean that you are not a Red Mantis Assasin if you dont have at least one level in this class? Unlikely .. there would likely be Clerics of Achareak who have no levels in this class.
As Chris above has said, you would need a way to have lost perhaps part of your past. It maybe that you were brought back from the dead and you are implying that those negative levels are the ones which contained your knowledge of that class etc. Its a tricky thing.
It could be that you were recruited with promises of wealth/ knowledge/ other by the Society who in turn screwed you over with the Red Mantis.
Im going to spoiler below
You thought you were not doing anything wrong, when in fact you were and by the time you realised it, were out of favor with the Mantis and a new 'member' of the society. (ie you had nowhere else to go).
You might even resent the society to some extent (keep in mind whilst there are a lot of pc good aligned society members, there are also a lot of neutral and evil members too )
The trick is not to make the background so anti society that you would never be likely to join, but also to make it so you were part of that society. I assumed you have read the Inner Sea World Guide on their home island/city.
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I did read on the home island/city, as well as anything I could find on Wikis. I like the idea of implicating Torch (especially since I played Mantis' Prey not a long time ago!) but was afraid I didn't know the backstory enough to make it plausible. I like your ideas though!
What about infiltrating the Society for a job but something happened and the character was saved by the very person he was supposed to assassinate (altough it seems very unlike Torch to save somebody so it could be someone else). Moral dillema from the character and he decides to pay back his savior by joining the Society. Would the Mantis dispatch assassin to bring him back into the fold? What if he they thought he was dead?
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I doubt the RMAs have a test that one passes or fails. Pass or die, maybe.
There might be something there... Maybe the character did die during the test and was brought back...
Where would I find more information on the group itself? From what I understand, they seem to have some sort of nasty intelligence/spy network and might have divination magic to magically "know" when somebody needs them/wants to use their services.
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Presumably RMAs exist without the PrC. I mean are there a bunch of rogues and ranger wannabes hangin around outside RMA HQ until they get the first level of the PrC.
What I'm saying is, you could have been a neophyte member of the cultorganization and decided to leavebeen tossed out before you could get very far up the ranks.
Presumably only the high ranking members of the RMA actually have levels of the PrC.
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There's a fan based wiki that's a good start for Golarion lore. If you've got further questions the Ask james Jacobs thread is pretty good for Golarion lore.
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You accidentally put on a cursed Helm of Opposite Alignment, thinking it was a hat of disguise. Your alignment changed from Lawful Evil to Chaotic Good. You are horrified at what you used to be, and you joined the Pathfinder Society to try and find redemption. You have vowed to never use your former skills again, or alternatively, you have paid for a priest or wizard to blank out part of your memory, so you can no longer use those skills.
Suggested Diety: Sarenrae
Suggested Factions: Grand Lodge, Andoran, Silver Crusade.
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In Seekers of Secrets, it actually lists a former Red Mantis Assassin who joined the Society! Albeit, the Pathfinder suffered amnesia and forgot most of her past... but it's not unprecedented :) Alignment was LN... and I believe Fighter/Rogue/Monk/RMA. I don't have my copy on hand to check.
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If I remember right, there's a period of indoctrination that members of the Red Mantis Assassins go through to brainwash them. Your character could always have escaped before that completely took, so you'd have had the "experience" but never actually completed a level in the Prestige class. Or you did, but when you left that life, you concentrated on other skills.
The mechanics of whether or not you ever had a level in Red Mantis Assassin really shouldn't matter that much when writing the background. Characters can lose levels many different ways, through retraining, through a Paladin falling (technically doesn't lose levels, but loses abilities), a Monk changing alignment, etc. I don't see why Red Mantis Assassin would be any different. You've changed alignment (presumably, to be a valid PFS character), so you lose access to any Red Mantis Assassin abilities you had and have "retrained" any levels you might have had into something else, but it would all be done through the GM credit rebuild rules so there's no cost to the actual character. I don't think you need to justify losing memories or losing a level or anything like that. Just build a Rogue or Ninja or whatever you think fits. Put a point in Profession (Red Mantis Assassin) if you want to reflect knowing more about the group than the average person.
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Red Mantis Assassin Assassin.
That's the back story I went with. Hunting them down has taught him a bit about their MOs (bit more in the profile).
But if the character were on the island she or he would be a part of the culture without the any actual training:
Parents were/are RMA.
Slave bought to train newly inducted RMAs how to sneak attack.
A pirate group attacked an RMA post and-greatly outmatched-he had to pretend to be one long enough to escape.
Farmer on their island whose sickle-technique mimicked the sabres.
Entomologist with a thing for hypnotizing.
FWIW I think I created mine just so I would get a chance to use the cool mini :) As of last night, I am nearly finished painting it (which usually means the character is going to die :)
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In Seekers of Secrets, it actually lists a former Red Mantis Assassin who joined the Society! Albeit, the Pathfinder suffered amnesia and forgot most of her past... but it's not unprecedented :) Alignment was LN... and I believe Fighter/Rogue/Monk/RMA. I don't have my copy on hand to check.
It's on p. 23. Pharast is a Fighter 2/ Monk 3 / Red Mantis Assassin 4
Pharast travels the north shore of the Inner Sea, bouncing from city to city, regularly depositing new maps and journal entries in various lodges. She avoids displaying flourishes of her former profession and speaks little of anything personal.
She has a muscular physique complemented by striking features, high-cheekbones and light brown eyes that contrast with her dark skin. She keeps most of her body covered to conceal her numerous incriminating scars.
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Awesome! Thank you guys for all the ideas...
I'm currently leaning forward a "The Bourne Identity" type character similar to Pharast who was rescued and trained by a former RMA.I'll probably be slayer/monk with maybe an arcane class as well (bard?) Obviously, the amnesia forces me to reconsider some aspects of the build I was aiming towards but that just means the character won't be as optimized as he could be (I originally was thinking warpriest/slayer with lots of strength and a bunch of feats related to 2WF and dirty tricks and it turned out really well but I don't think a warpriest of the Mantis God is appropriate anymore...)
Now, I need to get a mini as well! :)
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I like the idea that Red Mantis indoctrination includes a failsafe, that if an agent leaves the cult, all memory of the skills and secrets is expurged.
On the other hand, we know from PFS that...
Thus, levels of the prestige class are not a prerequisite of being a part of the Red Mantis. There's no need to resort to unnecessary Bourne-nesia to play this concept.
Also, if level were necessary... how would 1st level PCs ever meet one? Their CRs would be too high!
-Matt
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Presumably RMAs exist without the PrC. I mean are there a bunch of rogues and ranger wannabes hangin around outside RMA HQ until they get the first level of the PrC.
What I'm saying is, you could have been a neophyte member of the
cultorganization anddecided to leavebeen tossed out before you could get very far up the ranks.Presumably only the high ranking members of the RMA actually have levels of the PrC.
As Mattastrophic said, not every Red Mantis Assassin would have levels in the class.
Pretty much what I said.
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"O'course, you don't need to be messin' overly much with the Red Mantisy side o'things, luv, they certainly don't care if others be usin' their sabers, or so I hear. Never had one troublin me, in any case, and I've been using mine fer years. I hear they might even encourage the rabble, like meself of course, to learn 'em so you never know who's actually an assassin. Keeps up the mystique or some nonsense.
By the way, anyone around here know a Ven Lorovox? He's me uncle, ya see, I'm lookin to catch up with 'im. You just let me know if you see 'im, luv, okay?"
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This Character was made before the ACG, and works pretty well:
Crusader of Achaekek 1 / Two-Weapon Fighter 6 / Ninja 2
Jaklyn was raised to be the successor of Blood-Mistress Jakalyn, leader of the Red Mantis. She was sent to the Pathfinder Society to learn new areas of the world and gather intel on targets around the world. Her overarching mission is to find the many safehouses of Grand Master Torch, so that elite agents can track him down.
I have a set of red chain, with spiky daggers as shown in pictures of the RMAs and the Mantis Helm, as well as multiple sabres.
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Isn't there an archetype for the Warpriest that gives a bunch of cool stuff with Sawtooth Sabres?
There is. :)
