Carrion Crown [Recruiting 2 players, Gestalt]


Recruitment

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The letter appeared on your desk as if by magic, which was indeed a probable cause. It bore your name, inscribed in a spidery hand.

Dear ____________
It is with my deepest sympathies and regret that I must inform you of the passing of Professor Petros Lorrimor. It is by his request that I invite you to his funeral. Arrangements have been made, that the internment of the deceased might be delayed untill the first of Lamashan, that you, and others likewise named in his will, might have time to participate in his last rites.
As mentioned above, you have been named a beneficiary of the deceased's last will and testament, the reading of which has likewise been delayed untill after the funeral rites, at your convenience.

Please make haste to Ravengro, that this matter might be resolved in a proper and timely fashion.

My heartfelt condolences,
Sir Vashian Heartmount, Acting executor of Law

I'm currently running Carrion Crown for my IRL group. Unfortunately, said group is really big. As such, I don't manage to get in as much roleplaying as I'd like. I'm hoping to remedy this, by running a pbp campaign alongside it. I figured I'd be doing most of the prepwork anyway, and this forum always needs more GMs, so here we are.

Without further ado, let's hop to it!

What I want in a Player:
-First and foremost, I want you to be able to move the game forwards with your posts. I've seen many games grind to a halt, in many cases because everyone was waiting on everyone else to make progress.
-Second, you should be able to have fun and stay on a rail-road. It probably goes without saying, but I'll say it regardless, that the adventure paths are giant, blatant unrepentant railroads, with a big red Hogwarts-express style engine pulling it along. If you have to be able to build sand castles to have fun, this is not the game for you. That, however, is not to say that I won't tailor the game to your characters; I certainly plan to do so. I will, however, be mildly put out if I you manage to make enough uncounted for waves that I can't use what's in the books mostly as written.
-Third, I will ask you to refrain from applying if you have read the AP, or played beyond the Haunting of Harrowstone. Normally I don't do this, but I will for this campaign.
-Fourth, I require a measure of literacy in my players. That is not to say that you should master english to the degree of someone with a master's degree in english, (and the gods know I'm guilty of more than a few counts of Cruelty towards the Common Comma) but if I spot consistent spelling errors, I'm less likely to pick you.
-Finally, on posting rate. I will commit to a minimum of three good length posts per week, (here is a good example) and ask that you do the same. I also ask that you inform me if you will be unable to post for a period of five days or longer. I will extend the same curtesey to you.

Before you do anything else, I advice you to take a look at the player's guide; you can download it for free on these very forums.

What I want in a character:
-Beyond the character's personality, background and appearance, you should do some thinking on the character's motivations, goals (even if they're vague) and opinions on various matters.
-I'd like for you to write down two secrets of your character's, one of which is aware, and one which it is not.
-If you can manage it, I'd like for you to weave in some potential plot hooks. I'll work with them, but please be general rather than specific, so that I can more easily adapt your input to the plot.
-The character should fit within the theme of action horror. We're shooting for a mix of medieval and gothic horror here, and I'd like for the characters to reflect that, at least a little. I like to provide potential playeres with a list of popular culture characters that'd fit as protagonists in my games, and I'll do so here as well. It goes like this:
Sherlock holmes, of the 2009(I believe it was) movie. Most of the supporting cast would fit in as well.
Van Helsing.
Dr. Jekyll/mr. Hyde.
Abhorsen, of Garth Nix' the Old Kingdom stories.
Some of the human protagonists of Lovecraft's short stories fit the bill as well.
Strangely enough, a necromancer could fit in well.
-Your character should be mechanically effective. That is not to say that you should optimize to 100% capability, but keep in mind that this AP contains fights that have been reported as difficult for a party of four non-gestalt characters to handle.
-Finally, once you're close to done, please make a post with your main profile, containing a link to your character's alias, along with a roll of 1d54. When this is done, I'll look over your character.

Mechanical Information
Starting level: 1st, slow xp advancement.
Stats: You'll be using one of the following arrays; 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 8 or 16, 16, 15, 15, 14, 8. They respecively equivate 36 and 37pb.
Hit Points: Max at first level, rolled thereafter. (Mnimum half hd, i.e. d10 becomes 5 if you roll 1 2 3 or 4.
Starting Gold: Rolled or average as per your highest-starting gold class.
Variant Rules:
-This game will use gestalt rules, as described here.
-In urban settings, you can buy early firearms and ammunition, excluding gunpowder, at 1/5th the normal price. Further, firearms are martial weapons. You can get this discount on guns bought at character creation, if you have the funds.
-You will recieve a harrow card as described in the Player's Guide once you're chosen. You will acquire these at a rate of 1/book, with the option of earning bonus cards now and then, which provide team-wide benefits.
-You can choose two traits, one of which must inform or be informed by your relationship with the Professor. This may be a campaign trait, or it can be another trait you like, as long as you use it to explain the connection.
-There will be custom rules for surgical procedures. You can obtain these by reading notes and descriptions, which will be availible in game. There will also be books of forbidden knowledge, which allow the reader to wield the power of... Well, they're not from around here. Once again, you'll know these when you see them.
Allowed Content: Any and all 1st party material is allowed, with exception of factions, guilds and their bonuses, and material specific to PFS, i.e. the wizard exchanging Scribe Scroll for Spell Focus. Additionally, all Dreamscarred Press third party material currently available on d20pfsrd is allowed. Other third party material may be allowed on a case-by-case basis; link it to me here in the thread and we'll see. Preference is given to stuff on the d20pfsrd.

Once I'm ready, I'll launch a pre-game RP in the discussion tab. It'll probably be sometime tomorrow. Anyone can post there; use it for fun, profit or for fleshing out your concept, as you like. I'm unlikely to look at it very closely when picking out characters.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

I'm working on a pair of submissions right now. My two options are a Warpriest/Ninja who uses flurry of stars, and a Wizard/XX who focuses almost exclusively on his familiar (lots of stuff from the Familiar Folio).

Given that, if I took a class for my combination that grants an animal companion, like the Hunter, could I combine the familiar and the animal companion into a single creature somehow? I'm sure I could write up some rules for it that would be fun and not OP. :)


Sure. It won't work with improved familiar, but I'll allow you to add all the features of the familiar onto the animal companion. For hp and natural armor, it uses whatever is higher of the two progressions.


Are you looking to run this game with only two players? Or are you just looking to recruit two more to an existing group?

I've got a Chirurgeon Alchemist//Gunslinger crunched out that would work I think. Need to just polish off the history...


I am going to run this with only two players, yes.


Those arrays look... intense! Which clearly means something terrifying is coming.

Alright, I think I'll bite (as my role in PbPs always seems to be moving the plot forward—provided my character has sufficiently high int), although I recommend always taking 1-2 more players for a game than you expect, because someone almost always drops out within the first month for unforseen circumstances.

I've got a previous character I'd love to adapt for gestalt, as I get the feeling any character in this game will need to be both very hardy and very skill-trained.

So my question is: What is your opinion on a character powered mostly by optimism in a quest for forgotten knowledge? I have a feeling that starting out with an extremely enthusiastic character could be interesting in this campaign, which I know little about other than "high fantasy gothic horror" and the handbook. In any case, I'll get working on crunch, I suppose.

Edit: How does starting gold work? Would my character be able to get a discount on weapons/armor she can easily craft?

Shadow Lodge

I'm always fond of gestalt,
I'll be thinking on what I'd like to submit, but I'm thinking of some kind of alchemist
Maybe gunslinger/alchemist.


Sounds very interesting, I've been wanting to try a gestalt game. This would be my first time doing Pathfinder PbP, but I did a lot of other PbP adventures in my earlier years (mainly Fire Emblem RP's) so I'm not 100% green. I'm thinking of going with an Investigator/Magus; I have a draft of my character sheet here and a character bio in the spoiler below.

Spoiler:
The character idea I have going at the moment is for a Taldan noblewoman by the name of Dianne Lizbet. The Lizbet house, while not exceptionally influential by any means, is known for its military service and as such their eldest child received proper combat training at Taldor's most prestigious military academy. While she certainly had a talent for battle and received recognition for her performance with both sword and spell, she was far less interested in carrying on her family's military tradition than she was in simply obtaining knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself.

Fortune blessed young Dianne when Professor Petros Lorrimor came to lecture at the academy she was attending; the professor, while initially there to instruct on military strategy, quickly noticed Dianne's intellect and passion for learning. The elderly professor offered to personally tutor Dianne in a variety of subjects more suited to her interests; she gladly accepted, and expanded her horizons far beyond what she would have previously hoped for.

Fast-forward several years and Dianne has graduated from the academy and become a low-ranking officer in the Taldan forces. She has had happier days; with her time spent running drills and staring earnestly at the Qadiran border, she has little opportunity to study and increase her repertoire of knowledge; the news that her favorite tutor had died thus provided a mixed bag of emotions; though it was certainly a great loss, attending his funeral would give her an opportunity to petition for leave... Time spent at the deceased's home would be time spent where she could peruse his collection of tomes. Assuring herself that this was exactly what the professor had in mind when he decided she should be invited to his funeral, she left the military lifestyle for a time and set off for Ravengro.


Okay, here's my Character Submission. Story and personality are at the top of the profile.

1d54 ⇒ 41


thunderbeard wrote:

Those arrays look... intense! Which clearly means something terrifying is coming.

Alright, I think I'll bite (as my role in PbPs always seems to be moving the plot forward—provided my character has sufficiently high int), although I recommend always taking 1-2 more players for a game than you expect, because someone almost always drops out within the first month for unforseen circumstances.

I've got a previous character I'd love to adapt for gestalt, as I get the feeling any character in this game will need to be both very hardy and very skill-trained.

So my question is: What is your opinion on a character powered mostly by optimism in a quest for forgotten knowledge? I have a feeling that starting out with an extremely enthusiastic character could be interesting in this campaign, which I know little about other than "high fantasy gothic horror" and the handbook. In any case, I'll get working on crunch, I suppose.

Edit: How does starting gold work? Would my character be able to get a discount on weapons/armor she can easily craft?

Quests for forgotten knowledge are entirely appropriate to what we're going to be doing.

As for the starting gold thing, you can create items at half price if you've taken item creation feats for it. Items created solely by virtue of craft skills are full price though, regardless of whether you've crafted them yourself.

So a wizard with scribe scroll could get 1st level scrolls of spells in his spellbook at 12.5gp a piece, but an armorer would still have to pay 50gp for his scale mail, regardless of his craft(armorsmithing) bonus.


thunderbeard wrote:

Okay, here's my Character Submission. Story and personality are at the top of the profile.

1d54

Overall, looking good. I have a few thoughts that I'd like to share with you.

On the background:
I dig it. There are a few things I haven't told you that are relevant, though. The place where the professor lived, Ravengro, is a relatively small quaint little town, with somewhere around 300 inhabitants. It houses the family manor, Lorrimor Estate, which is where he's gone to live out his retirement in peace and quiet.

He's a professor at Lepidstadt University, which is in Lepidstadt, a few weeks of horseback travel from Ravengro. He does, in fact, keep a sizeable library at home, so your background is appropriate.

Oh, and another detail from when you saved the professor: As soon as he was well enough, he took to spending a long time by the sea, walking the cliffs and the beach, untill he found what he was looking for. Apparently, he'd brought a large, nondescript pine box on his voyage, rought 9 by 4 by 4 feet. You didn't get to look inside, but you did spot something through a crack in the side. There was a patch of elaborate symbols, painted in gaudy colors on a white background. You couldn't quite make out the specifics. Perhaps there was another, smaller box inside? It must have been heavy, whatever it was. The professor levitated it around by magic.


On the mechanics:
Your will save seems low.
Your damage output seems somewhat small, considering that you don't seem to have any battlefield control available, and you'll be making up half of all the combat actions your side gets to take.
Your int-based skills' bonuses seem a point too small. By my count, they should be +7=+1(rank)+3(cs)+3(int).
Overall, it looks good.


Would a ratfolk be an acceptable character to play in your campaign?

If so I will submit an Alchemist/Ranger focusing on natural weapons.


Ratfolk is an entirely acceptable race. It's not going to make me like the character more or less than if it'd been human. Note however that the good peasants of Ustalav dislike strange people. They're usually necromancers, spies, thieves, or heralds of unwelcome change.

And fair warning to everyone; If your character is focused on one of the following areas:
Natural Attacks, sneak attacks, mind-affecting magic or fire damage,
You should be prepared to create an alternative combat role for yourself that you can be just as effective in as your primary focus, in case that one turns out to be infeasible some of the time.


I have a samsaran investigator on ice from a previous campaign that began in Ustalav. He's a high skill-focused character, though I could gestalt him with slayer, or even a fighter archetype (Lore Warden, Free-Hand Fighter, or maybe Ustalavic Duelist), to make him more melee-viable. Knowledgeable, trap-canny, and perceptive, but working to keep his strange heritage hidden from the common folk (through mundane and alchemical means).

Conceptually, Henric is decidedly neutrally-aligned. He doesn't concern himself with ethical debates, finding knowledge more important. He's a man of science, not a believer in superstitious nonsense (and I would love to see how he reacts to having that belief - or lack thereof - challenged). I've taken liberties with samsarans having memories of their past lives, making him plagued by all his previous personalities - they fight for headspace, a constant sussurus of whispers that cause him to lose focus, to blank out in conversations, to speak in tongues under times of stress - and to give him vital knowledge when he needs it most, in the form of his inspiration class feature. He's frustrated with this, and has gaps in his memory from where a previous version of him has slipped through and taken over. To cope, he makes liberal use of polypurpose panacea.

He's very much a role-play character. And if you allow Occult Adventures classes, I could even gestalt him with medium, providing you (as GM) with a way to exert some control over him (in the form of spirits and influence).

I think he could be a lot of fun, but I'd like to get your thoughts on the concept before I go reworking him into a full submission!

EDIT: I am in a (slow-moving) Carrion Crown PBP - still in Book 1 - and have not read the AP.


Material from Occult Adventures is allowed, but keep in mind I only have the playtest material to go from.

If you get accepted using some of it, then please tell me about the relevant updates.

The core idea is cool. It should mesh seemlessly with the campaign, and provide some both interesting and useful story moments. I can relate to the draw of playing a samsaran character.


Very interested. I'm thinking maybe an Arcane Bloodline Sorceror/Oracle of Dark Tapestry, a lot of Lovecraft splashed in there with the character turning toward academia as a profession in hopes of better understanding the powers that come naturally to them and the strangeness they've been born with. I'll kick around the idea a little, see where it goes.

For full disclosure, I have played, at farthest, into the second day in Ravengro.


id like to out my hat into the ring for this. He is a scarred witch doctor that i would mix with the alchemist beast morph. I can post several times a day.

Gremly D

I have not played this AP before hope to get in. I know I’ll need to make changes to my character, but just want to know if you'll except him in as a applicant before I do anything else.

Thanks


@Riuk; Sent you a PM.
@Nidoran; Looking forwards to seeing what you come up with.

Shadow Lodge

Ok I'm thinking alchemist (grenadier)/gunslinger(mechanist) demolitions expert, he uses explosive shots, fording his bombs through his gun, and taking the wild talent feat to give a few psionic deads, most importantly one that makes my shots explode turning them into splash weapons at the cost of a point of grit or a power point.


Ranger starting geld: 5d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 6, 4, 4) = 19 x 10 = 190gp


My character is far from done, fluff-wise, but her backstory is done, and I was hoping we could touch base on it, so I know if she's not feeling a little off the tone you're going for before I flesh her out more as a character. She's become a Black-Blooded Oracle during the writing of her backstory, but bloodline and mystery ought to remain the same.

Rosalind Levitainn:
Rosalind wasn't sure what began first; the voices, or the 'changes'. They likely came very quickly after one another, but she had pushed much of those memories aside, as it was a dark and confusing time that she had trouble being entirely certain the order of. All she knew was that in her early teens, something wicked manifested inside of her, something twisted and strange. Voices haunted her dreams, dozens if not thousands of writhing voices whispering in a vile tongue that she somehow understood with perfect clarity for someone who'd never spoken a word out of Common. When awake, magical energy surged within her, something inborn that her mage mother could make neither heads nor tails of in its sheer depth; she exhibited affinity for both arcane and divine magic, without a single prayer said or spell book read. But with it came changes, flashes of intense emotion, temporary physical changes like the blackening of her flesh or coughing up ichor. Her blood had turned black and cold, but ran through her veins all the same.

She always knew she'd been adopted; the barren wizard, Roxanna, who'd given her a home made no secret of not having given birth to the girl, who she considered her own daughter nonetheless. But her changes invoked a fiercer line of questioning, and Rosalind soon learned that she had not been innocently adopted from an orphanage as a baby, but instead handed to the scholarly mage out of fear by a group of clerics who claimed the child was off ill birth and that no church could properly care for her. Roxanna had taken her in, given her a good life and a loving home but also kept a studious eye on her. For all the years she'd watched, all she could gather was that her daughter's heritage was some manner of aberrant, but unlike anything she'd seen before.

To the best of the wizard's ability, she trained her daughter in her inherent magic, fearful of what may happen if word of Rosalind's odd abilities got out. Few of the professors that Roxanna worked with were privy to Rosalind's sensitive situation, chief among them being Roxanna's dear friend Petros Lorrimor. Though he could provide little more information on her strange case than her mother could, he took an interest in it, their regular correspondence often including little notes about specific books that may contain some helpful information. It remained a curious case for the family friend, and as Rosalind grew older she began to correspond with the professor as well, even studying under him when she was of age to pursue a higher education (Campaign Trait: Teacher's Pet).

Roxanna's scholarly interest in her daughter's heritage soon rubbed off on the girl, who focused her study not only on expanding her talents whether it was a wise decision or not, but also in general academia. She didn't wish to remain the subject of others' study for her whole life, and hoped that by beginning down the path of scholarly interests herself, that she could uncover the secrets about her powers, understand herself and where she came from, and what it all meant. Perhaps even find her parents, wherever and whatever they were. There were mysteries to be solved, and she believed that the answer likely lay within the layered whispers that never ceased to haunt her dreams, if only she could tune into a single voice in the gibbering chorus.

When she became of age, Rosalind became an eager student at the University of Lepidstadt, where her mother taught. Her specializations were in magic and religion, hoping that some long-forgotten piece of arcane lore or dead faith may shine light on her heritage where merely studying what aberrations already existed would do her little good; perhaps the beings that called to her were more divine--or profane--than she realized, and that at least some of her magic had been granted by them. While her heritage could never be the subject of a proper paper due to Ustalav's fearful populace, Rosalind and her mother spent much of their time pouring together over any new tomes of forgotten lore they could in search of an answer. Someone had to have written something down, in the thousands of years since the written word's invention.

After a guest lecture in Caliphas, Roxanna sent word to her daughter that she was in possession of a book that she believed would finally have shed light on her secret and that she would return shortly. And she did, but with a blade in her back, body left carelessly in front of the University with all of her possessions on her person--but notably, no book--and no message left. Rosalind took it as a warning, vague and wordless, perhaps not even directed knowingly at a specific individual but left for her conspirator, whomever it was. It was enough to push her from her search, at least while she grieved her dead mother and put her into the ground.

It had only been a few weeks later when the magical letter appeared on her desk, telling her of her favorite professor's death. It was a much softer blow, but not easy for the young woman, already shaken by the death of her only family, to take. Still technically on bereavement leave from the university where she had become a research assistant without a professor to aid, she set out for Ravengro to pay yet another close to her farewell, with the hope that he had not encountered the same potential fate as her mother.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Oh man this looks good. I love the strict requirements. I work at a lax office job, so i can post 7 days a week almost anytime. Thus, I'm constantly tapping my foot waiting on others to post.

I've read way too much Poe, so ill Probably make an american Gothic if that's alright.


I think a Slayer / Inquisitor(Vampire Hunter) would work both mechanically and thematically for Carrion Crown.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Are you using a grid? I often use dungeongrid.com for many online games.


Nidoran Duran wrote:

My character is far from done, fluff-wise, but her backstory is done, and I was hoping we could touch base on it, so I know if she's not feeling a little off the tone you're going for before I flesh her out more as a character. She's become a Black-Blooded Oracle during the writing of her backstory, but bloodline and mystery ought to remain the same.

** spoiler omitted **...

I have very little to add beyond the point that I know vaguely what the book is, who took it, and what (pronoun) needs it for. Good work, I look forward to seeing the character finished.

I imagine making my choice is going to be hard.

@meeko, thanks, I'll check it out. I was planning to use pyromancers.com. I've found it to work out quite well, but it does have its downsides.


Dotting. I'd like to pitch a rebuild of a character I made for a Carrion Crown AP game a while back. You stated you wanted players who had not played CC before, at least not beyond Haunting of Harrowstone, and indeed, the game I was in suffered a GM flake-out before we actually ever got to the titular prison, so I never got to see him there. I loved the character concept though and put a lot of thought into tying him into the AP, so I'll have to do some similar work her to make sure he is well gestalted during the rebuild.


Dot


"If you shut up and listen to me, we might actually get to live through the night." -Valissa

Ten-Minute Background

(Pfft, didn't finish it THAT fast. XD I'll post Crunch if/when you want to see it.)

Five background and concept elements important to Valissa
1) Valissa, in part, represents the idea that good isn't always nice - in fact, her personality is such that many people don't realize she's an Aasimar at first. She's not above bribing, lying to people, or even faking a fight against a monstrous foe in order to sway people into doing what she tells them to. At the same time, however, she is good. She does what she believes is best for others, whether or not a bit of tough love is required.
2) Valissa is very knowledgeable about eldritch horrors - because she summons them. Her usual response to a slavering horror isn't screaming and hiding, it's calling up something even scarier and letting it go to town. In the same vein, she's studied a number of different fields and usually has information on the foes that are being faced.
3) Valissa has minimal respect for any authority other than her own. She sees most of the upper-class as pampered fools who don't know when to shut up and get to work, and breaking any law wouldn't bother her if it was for a good cause. She doesn't violate the law just because she can, though - she's not the sort who supports anarchy for its own sake. That said, if she judges a ruler as competent, she'll be as loyal and lawful as anyone could like.
4) Words are powerful things, and Valissa knows this better than most. She uses them to convince people to do things her way, berate them for failing... and cast certain kinds of magic. She's a Wordcaster on her Sorcerer side, though casts normally as a Summoner.
5) Valissa holds herself to an even higher standard than she holds others to, and generally doesn't give up once she's decided to do something.

Two goals that are important to Valissa.
1) Valissa wants to make Ustalav a safer, better place for normal people to live. She's not above doing almost anything (that's not outright evil) to accomplish this goal. She sees most of the residents of the land as superstitious cowards - which may not be entirely wrong - but her dislike for their attitudes doesn't mean that she won't help them.
2) Valissa does not like seeing innocent people die, and will go to considerable lengths to protect them - though she might yell at them for awhile if the trouble they got into was their own fault.

Two secrets about Valissa, one that she knows, and one that she's not yet aware of
1) Valissa's heritage as an Aasimar is something she tends to keep hidden from others - she uses it as a kind of secret bit of leverage, especially when talking to people in private, to 'encourage' them to do as she says. Most normal people are willing to agree with an Aasimar's opinion on general topics,
2) Valissa's eldritch powers are actually a result of her celestial heritage - farther back in her family tree, the divine being whose blood entered her line spent quite a long time fighting in the Malestrom. It wasn't enough to really pollute their body, but some chaotic power seeped into the family line, suppressed until Valissa's generation (when the holy blood has watered down enough that chaos could assert itself).

Four people that are tied to Valissa, three are friends and one is an enemy
1) Valissa, at one point, saved Professor Lorrimor from a rather agonizing demise. She had to reveal some of her summoning powers to do it - indeed, they were instrumental in saving his life - but he responded well and ultimately ended up growing closer to her after he realized that she was a good person beneath her rough exterior.
2) Elnadri - a Ghaele Azata - is the distant ancestor whose power turned Valissa into an Aasimar. The two of them have never met, but Elnadri is fully-aware that her descendants still live, and she may yet have plans for her good-hearted - if stern - descendant.
3) Sir Konnor - Valissa's father. Member of a knightly order, defender of his town, and all-around supportive individual. He's aware of Valissa's powers - though he doesn't talk about them in public - and taught her much of what she knows.
4) One person Valissa doesn't get along with - at all - is the mayor of her hometown. In her view, he's a foolish, self-centered twit who's going to get everybody killed through sheer stupidity. Unfortunately, he also realizes that she's able to summon some pretty freaky things, and he used that knowledge to drive her out of town. This was one of her biggest failures, and one she regrets to this day.

Four memories, mannerisms or quirks Valissa possess.
1) Valissa does not need to eat. One of her attributes as an Aasimar is the ability to subsist on sunlight, and she regularly does so. While she enjoys a good meal as next as the next person, she eats only for fun, and as such is able to travel remarkable distances on even the scantest supplies.
2) Valissa doesn't have much in the way of modesty, nor does she show too many other emotions (except general irritation when people bother her). To her, accomplishing her mission is the most important thing, and she's more than willing to toss away what she sees as lesser emotions if they're getting in the way. That said, this can make it a bit harder for her to relate to others, and she sometimes has trouble relating to overly-emotional people.
3) Valissa was very young when she performed her first summoning, calling up a swarm of Vilstraks that battered down a monster that was approaching the town. She told her father about this, but the rest of the town never realized something had happened, and this was when they first learned how unusual she was.
4) The particular lady has been known to get quite creative when... ah... encouraging people to work faster, harder, and better.

On the Void Caller:

The Void Caller is a modification for the Master Summoner archetype. It includes:
>A modified Summoning List (taking creatures from the official Bestiaries and Tome of Horrors) - creatures on it speak/understand Aklo (when appropriate) and have a CN alignment.
>A cap on Summoning Mastery (3 uses at any time)
>Swaps the Eidolon for 5 additional uses of Summoning Mastery each day.


I could have sworn that last bullet point under Character Creation wasn't there when I checked last night... Oh well, sorry about that. Here is a link to Dianne's profile page.

1d54 ⇒ 21


Rednal wrote:

"If you shut up and listen to me, we might actually get to live through the night." -Valissa

Ten-Minute Background

(Pfft, didn't finish it THAT fast. XD I'll post Crunch if/when you want to see it.)

Five background and concept elements important to Valissa
1) Valissa, in part, represents the idea that good isn't always nice - in fact, her personality is such that many people don't realize she's an Aasimar at first. She's not above bribing, lying to people, or even faking a fight against a monstrous foe in order to sway people into doing what she tells them to. At the same time, however, she is good. She does what she believes is best for others, whether or not a bit of tough love is required.
2) Valissa is very knowledgeable about eldritch horrors - because she summons them. Her usual response to a slavering horror isn't screaming and hiding, it's calling up something even scarier and letting it go to town. In the same vein, she's studied a number of different fields and usually has information on the foes that are being faced.
3) Valissa has minimal respect for any authority other than her own. She sees most of the upper-class as pampered fools who don't know when to shut up and get to work, and breaking any law wouldn't bother her if it was for a good cause. She doesn't violate the law just because she can, though - she's not the sort who supports anarchy for its own sake. That said, if she judges a ruler as competent, she'll be as loyal and lawful as anyone could like.
4) Words are powerful things, and Valissa knows this better than most. She uses them to convince people to do things her way, berate them for failing... and cast certain kinds of magic. She's a Wordcaster on her Sorcerer side, though casts normally as a Summoner.

Hah, this reminds me of my last playthrough of skyrim.


Never played this AP and kinda unfamiliar with Ustalav, but my very first session of D&D was in Ravenloft, and I have many fond memories of that setting. Would you object to a Varisian from Korvosa with the Scholar of the Ancients campaign trait to represent a student from the Acadamae who attended Professor Lorrimor's lectures while he was visiting from Ustalav? I am envisioning an arcanist/investigator who has spent a full decade studying at the Acadamae with no real thought as to what she would do afterward, who is suddenly thrust into adventure when invited to the funeral of a professor she had corresponded with for years after attending his lectures and quite enjoying them.


This is Cartmanbeck. I've got Hinjar's crunch mostly finished and on his profile. I'll work on a backstory and do minor things like picking spells later this evening/tomorrow.


Thanks for the input, GM. I might do a couple alternate mechanical versions of the character, if that's alright with you - I've got his flavour pretty much down. Though I understand if you'd prefer I only put forth one statblock.

At any rate, I'll write up a ten-minute background on the train today, and get hm into a proper submission!


The forum downtime ate my response post. I can't muster the energy to type it back up; I've lost it twice by now. I'll type up a Pre-game RP opening post in the discussions tab. The pre-game RP will be open to anyone with a character description.

Note that I am moderately unlikely to post tomorrow, and mildly unlikely to post thursday. I anticipate 1 post before friday.


Answered GM questions by PM.


The pregame RP thread (or discussion, as some like to call it), is now open for business.


Random: 1d54 ⇒ 25
Burns has lived on the fringes a lot and usually this means you have to learn to look after yourself because there is no one else close by and few that might go out of their way to help a ratfolk. He has had some trouble with undead in the past and his efforts have been to stop them if he can wherever he finds them. Protecting those others of his kind that he has found as well. He thinks it his duty to destroy them. His first encounter left him wounded and scared and this had a big impact on him and he unconsciously scratches where the scars are.

Everything is ready I think. I will try to post in the discussion later tonight.


I've had some people PM me, confused as to whether I've chosen characters yet.

I have not.

That said, anyone wanting to join has untill sunday evening, midnight GMT to dot the thread - Character completion deadline is the following wednesday evening, once again midnight GMT. I'll chose the players two days hence - on friday the 6. of february.

Announcement: Character completion deadline is Wednesday the 5. of february, midnight GMT.

Completed Applications
thunderbeard with Victorianna Whitecap, Gome Oracle//Investigator
Arachnofiend with Dianne Lizbet, Human Magus//Investigator
Highonholywater with Burns, Ratfolk Ranger//Alchemist


Incidentally, I generally don't make aliases unless I know I'm definitely using the characters, so I'd prefer to hold off on that. XD; Did you want to see the Crunch for my character right now?


I think I'm going back to the drawing board; I fleshed out Rosalind a whole bunch, only to realize immediately upon starting her crunch that given a party size of two, she simply won't bring enough early-game to survive, especially since I've heard there's a fair amount of

Spoiler:
haunts

early on that will require a lot of her Oracle side to drop Cure Light Wounds all over the place. I think instead I'll roll up an Oradin, but a new character entirely because sticking Rosalind in armor and giving her a big sword doesn't feel right.

Edit: Alternately, I'll make Rosalind's Sorcerer side Bloodrager instead; that would be a little easier to swallow. I'll see what I can drum up for an Oradin and figure it out from there.


Rednal wrote:

"If you shut up and listen to me, we might actually get to live through the night." -Valissa

Ten-Minute Background
On void callers
*snip*

Rednal wrote:
Incidentally, I generally don't make aliases unless I know I'm definitely using the characters, so I'd prefer to hold off on that. XD; Did you want to see the Crunch for my character right now?

Holding off on aliases is fine. I do have a comment on your character concept though; While I like it, I can't help but feel that it might be working at cross purpose with what I'll be trying to achieve; Valissa seems the type to be unfazed by what she encounters, which... well, I can't help but think it might not be ideal for a horror game.

Additionally
Spoilered for spoilers:
There'll be a segment on cthulhu mythos and abberations, and having a character who is going to go "meh" and summon something worse seems like it might detract from that experience.

I'd still like to see the crunch, but if I don't pick her, the above will be why.

Rigor Rictus wrote:

Dotting.

*snip*

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I like playing with people who like their character concept.

Arachnofiend wrote:

I could have sworn that last bullet point under Character Creation wasn't there when I checked last night... Oh well, sorry about that. Here is a link to Dianne's profile page.

1d54

I should think it was there the whole time. But it was sneaky, meant to make it stand out if people were paying attention.

Your sheet checks out. What happens if the Taldane military decides her leave is up?

[quote=]Never played this AP and kinda unfamiliar with Ustalav, but my very first session of D&D was in Ravenloft, and I have many fond memories of that setting. Would you object to a Varisian from Korvosa with the Scholar of the Ancients campaign trait to represent a student from the Acadamae who attended Professor Lorrimor's lectures while he was visiting from Ustalav?
*snip*

That's an entirely appropriate way to use that trait. I never got to play in ravenloft, sadly. I read some of it, it seems quite intriguing.

Hinjar wrote:
This is Cartmanbeck. I've got Hinjar's crunch mostly finished and on his profile. I'll work on a backstory and do minor things like picking spells later this evening/tomorrow.

Carry on :)

[quote=]Thanks for the input, GM. I might do a couple alternate mechanical versions of the character, if that's alright with you - I've got his flavour pretty much down. Though I understand if you'd prefer I only put forth one statblock.

At any rate, I'll write up a ten-minute background on the train today, and get hm into a proper submission!

Please pick the one statblock you like best, I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing come together.

Burns wrote:


Burns has lived on the fringes a lot and usually this means you have to learn to look after yourself because there is no one else close by and few that might go out of their way to help a ratfolk. He has had some trouble with undead in the past and his efforts have been to stop them if he can wherever he finds them. Protecting those others of his kind that he has found as well. He thinks it his duty to destroy them. His first encounter left him wounded and scared and this had a big impact on him and he unconsciously scratches where the scars are.

Everything is ready I think. I will try to post in the discussion later tonight.

I've found no errors or complaints. I'm happy to see someone posting in there.

Nidoran Duran wrote:

I think I'm going back to the drawing board; I fleshed out Rosalind a whole bunch, only to realize immediately upon starting her crunch that given a party size of two, she simply won't bring enough early-game to survive, especially since I've heard there's a fair amount of

Spoiler:
early on that will require a lot of her Oracle side to drop Cure Light Wounds all over the place. I think instead I'll roll up an Oradin, but a new character entirely because sticking Rosalind in armor and giving her a big sword doesn't feel right.
Edit: Alternately, I'll make Rosalind's Sorcerer side Bloodrager instead; that would be a little easier to swallow. I'll see what I can drum up for an Oradin and figure it out from there.

I'm sorry to see Rosalind go, but I certainly understand your concerns.

Incidentally, and I don't know if this'll be relevant to you, I'd allow rage prophet to be taken on one of the gestalt sides, perhaps by spending a feat to get the requisite rage power. You can never advance your ability to rage or cast spells faster than normal though, regardless of what the other rules say.


That does assume she would be capable of calling something worse - given that Summoners can generally only call stuff below the CR of their enemies, I suspect that wouldn't be the case.

My understanding of the Carrion Crown AP is that a lot of horror is involved, but it does feature people who stand up to those terrors - going out to fight them instead of cowering under the bed, as it were. I built accordingly, trying to figure out what sort of personality might be necessary for a person doing that in Ustalav. XD

Spoiler:
Valissa
Female azata-blooded aasimar (musetouched) sorcerer (wordcaster) 1/summoner (master summoner) 1/gestalt 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 54, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 84, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 80)
CG Medium outsider (native)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +2
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 11, touch 10, flat-footed 11 (+1 armor)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +4; +2 circumstance vs. blinded or dazzled, +2 trait bonus vs. charm and compulson
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks alien abscess, bleed
Summoner Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +6)
. . 15/day—summoning mastery
Sorcerer (Wordcaster) Words Known (CL 1st; concentration +6)
. . 1st (5/day)—friendship (DC 18), lock ward (DC 16), quiet
. . 0 (at will)—boost, decipher, distant, flame jet (DC 15), lengthy
Summoner (Master Summoner) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +6)
. . 1st (3/day)—grease, unseen servant
. . 0 (at will)—conjurer's toolbelt, detect magic, message, open/close (DC 15)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 13, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 21
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 11
Feats Eschew Materials, Meta Word Mastery
Traits birthmark, chance savior
Skills Diplomacy +8, Intimidate +9 (+11 circumstance vs. evil creatures), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Knowledge (religion) +7, Linguistics +7; Racial Modifiers +2 Diplomacy
Languages Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Sylvan
SQ bloodline arcana: realms beyond, exalted resistance, halo, lesser eidolon, life link, meta word limit
Other Gear silken ceremonial armor, backpack, bedroll, waterskin, 36 gp, 9 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Alien Abscess (Sp) Touch inflicts 1 point of bleed damage per round.
Birthmark +2 save vs. charm & compulsion
Bleed (Ex) Attack causes additional damage at the beginning of the target's turn.
Bloodline Arcana: Realms Beyond (Ex) Charm and illusion spells have DC +2
Chance Savior Fate smiled on you and Professor Lorrimor one day in the not so distant past. Through a matter of pure chance, you were in a position to save the late scholar's life and did so. His gratitude was effusive, and he promised that he would never forget y
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Exalted Resistance (6) You have spell resistance 6 vs evil spells, or any spell cast by evil outsiders.
Gain Sustenance from Sunlight Standing in the sun for half an hour is equivalent to a meal.
Halo +2 to intimidate vs evil creatures and to saves against becoming blinded or dazzled.
Realms Beyond Charm and illusion spells have DC +2
Sorcerer Meta Word Limit (4/day) A wordcaster can only use meta words a number of times a day equal to half his caster level in his wordcasting class (minimum 1).
Summoning Mastery I (15/day) (Sp) You can summon monsters as a spell like ability, maintaining 1 even when Eidolon is summoned.
Void Caller The Void Caller uses an alternate summoning list, loses their Eidolon (and related abilities), and gains five additional uses of Summoning Mastery.


Rage Prophet looks cool, but not really for the Bloodrager/Oracle combo; I wouldn't want to lose three levels of primary spellcasting in a small party, but I'd also miss out on a load of arcane spells if I took it on the Bloodrager side.

Also, just to clarify; what sorts of things did you want to know characters' opinions of? I can't find any mention anywhere of what to make characters take a stance on.


Sounds interesting and all the better since I have never played it. I have two ideas that could work. Owl and Jacob Romero. Obviously neither are legal since Owl is level 6 and Romero is a single class(thinking cleric gestalt for a magical powerhouse) but the backstories for both need only minor tweeking. Want to see what you think about them first before committing to an overhaul.


After a good chin-wag at my PFS game last night, I'm thinking I might actually go investigator/alchemist for Henric. It'll be cheesy, but basically make him a hardcore utility character. Empiricist and Chirurgeon archetypes sounds fun, and bombs will let him do useful things.

At the same time, mixing with medium would make fantastic RP, and going fighter or something like magus would probably be better for combat...

Might just go investigator/alchemist and see what you say about the mechanics.


El Ronza wrote:
After a good chin-wag at my PFS game last night, I'm thinking I might actually go investigator/alchemist for Henric. It'll be cheesy, but basically make him a hardcore utility character. Empiricist and Chirurgeon archetypes sounds fun, and bombs will let him do useful things.

Investigator/Alchemist also probably gives you more formulae from identical caster lists than you'll ever need. If you're interested in hardcore utility, Slayer/Urban Ranger/Inquisitor are all gestalts that would increase combat ability while still giving similar skill layouts.

Grand Lodge

I would like to throw my hat into the ring with Calon, an Elven Transmuter/Ranger. I started this campaign with him before (as a non-gestalt Transmuter) but it ended very early in the first adventure.

1d54 ⇒ 27


thunderbeard wrote:
El Ronza wrote:
After a good chin-wag at my PFS game last night, I'm thinking I might actually go investigator/alchemist for Henric. It'll be cheesy, but basically make him a hardcore utility character. Empiricist and Chirurgeon archetypes sounds fun, and bombs will let him do useful things.
Investigator/Alchemist also probably gives you more formulae from identical caster lists than you'll ever need. If you're interested in hardcore utility, Slayer/Urban Ranger/Inquisitor are all gestalts that would increase combat ability while still giving similar skill layouts.

Chirurgeon allows me to use alchemist formulae for pure healing, keeping investigator open for utility and buffs, but you raise a good point. But of the three classes you listed, I can only see slayer fitting my character concept. He isn't a religious man (finding the deities not as useful as actual science), so while inquisitor is a solid class, it's not particularly thematic for a man of science. (Unless the campaign setting has a god of science I'm not familiar with? All that comes to mind is Brigh.)

There's also the fact that I simply can't see this character having a high wisdom. He's going mad, after all - when you have over ten thousand years of memories blurring and whispering all the time, you get a little unhinged. That brings up a problem with urban ranger, as well - the reliance on wisdom, at least enough to cast spells. I also can't claim to know how much the campaign takes place in and around a community, so flavoured community may not be useful. And some of the archetype-specific abilities are obsoleted by inquisitor, anyway (namely trapfinding).

Slayer could work, though. One dominant memory that keeps surfing is of a previous, crueler version of him, which started to surface more and more often when he began studying anatomy at Lepidstadt. He's not sure what he did in that particular life - I left it in mainly as a plot hook - but it could well have been something vicious and not particularly moral. Beginning to exert influence over him, even as he tries desperately to bury it, not wanting to know the horrible things he did...

Oh man, I'm liking that idea! Cheers, thunderbeard! I reckon that's what I'll go with. Keep investigator for the 'analytical man of science', and slayer for the 'bloodthirsty but patient killer'. Get a dose of Jeckyl & Hyde with my Sherlock Holmes :D


I'm a huge fan of archetypes for flavor (for instance, I have a major beef with people who play non-evil Vivisectionists), and so that makes Chirurgeon fun. The handbook recommends Vampire Hunter Investigators being thematically appropriate, and there are Ranger variants that don't need wisdom (Skirmisher/Trapper both trade away spells, and can stack with Urban Ranger), but Slayer's always a decent gestalt for its combination of raw power and skill points.

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