The Darkest Corners (Urban horror fantasy homebrew)


Recruitment

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Aside from equipment, Baqir is completed. I switched over to using cold since I found that fire gives very little in terms of customization. Now Baqir can also function as an impromptu healer in dire cases.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Well, I will have the crunch and background presented as soon as the Dev fixes the forum issue and I can create a new alias!


@Baqir: Not seeing a backstory anywhere.

@Yossarin: You could always post it in some spoilers here until they fix it.


Spooky GM wrote:

@Baqir: Not seeing a backstory anywhere.

@Yossarin: You could always post it in some spoilers here until they fix it.

You are correct, that too is missing. There's a chance me and Dread Pirate Captain may want to do a collab on these characters so giving it 24 hours before committing anything to virtual ink.


Oh, okay. I took "completed" to mean that everything was done, not just the crunch. No worries.


I humbly submit Tomcat for consideration.

Stat Block:

Tomcat
Male catfolk bard (archivist) 5 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 80, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 90)
N Medium humanoid (catfolk)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (+5 armor, +1 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 45 (5d8+5)
Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +4; +4 bonus vs. magical traps, language-dependent effects, and symbols, glyphs, and magical writings of any kind
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee cold iron dagger +7 (1d4+2/19-20) or
. . silver dagger +7 (1d4+1/19-20) or
. . 2 claws +7 (1d4+2)
Ranged composite shortbow +7 (1d6+2/×3)
Special Attacks bardic performance 15 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate [DC 15], inspire competence +2, naturalist)
Bard (Archivist) Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +8)
. . 2nd (3/day)—cat's grace, heroism, versatile weapon[APG] (DC 15)
. . 1st (5/day)—expeditious retreat, grease, heightened awareness[ACG], vanish[APG] (DC 14)
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, read magic
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 20
Feats Arcane Strike, Black Cat[ARG], Weapon Finesse
Traits armor expert, seeker
Skills Acrobatics +12, Climb +14, Escape Artist +10, Knowledge (arcana) +10, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +10, Knowledge (geography) +6, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Knowledge (planes) +10, Knowledge (religion) +10, Linguistics +6, Perception +8, Perform (oratory) +11, Spellcraft +10 (+12 to identify magic items or decipher scrolls), Stealth +13, Use Magic Device +10
Languages Catfolk, Common, Elven, Kelish, Sylvan
SQ bardic knowledge +4, cat's luck, jack-of-all-trades, lore master 1/day, magic lore
Combat Gear cold iron arrows (50), daredevil softpaws, silver arrows (50), wand of cure light wounds, wand of shield (50 charges); Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, arrows (20), cold iron dagger, composite shortbow (+2 Str), silver dagger, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, hairbrush (0.3 lb), ink, black, inkpen, journal, mess kit, mirror, pot, silk rope (50 ft.), soap, waterskin, wrist sheath, spring loaded (2), 86 gp
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Armor Expert -1 Armor check penalty.
Bardic Knowledge +4 (Ex) Add +4 to all knowledge skill checks.
Bardic Performance (standard action, 15 rounds/day) Your performances can create magical effects.
Black Cat (1/day) Once per day, make enemy reroll an attack vs you with a -4 penalty.
Cat's Luck (1/day) (Ex) Can roll 2d20 for a Reflex save and take better result.
Climbing (20 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Daredevil softpaws (10 rounds/day) +5 to avoid AoO moving in threatened squares (on success +1 to att vs that foe). +2 to track DC for your tracks.
Jack-of-all-trades (use any skill) (Ex) You may use all skills untrained.
Lore Master (1/day) (Ex) Can take 10 on any trained knowledge checks. Activate to take 20 as a standard action.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Magic Lore +2 (Ex) +4 save vs. magical traps, language-dependent effects, symbols, glyphs, and magical writings.


Letter of Introduction:

My esteemed colleague and dear friend,

I greatly appreciate your interest in our community and our well-being. The situation here is finally getting better and returning to normal. The appearance of those strange phenomena truly caught us unprepared and were it not for actions of some unexpected allies it would have dire consequences for us all and threatened the very survival of our community. And it is one of these allies, who greatly contributed to rectifying the situation, whom I want to write to you about. Where shall I begin. Perhaps at the beginning would be the best.

It was on a stormy night several years ago when I heard a knock on the door followed by a sound of a body falling down into the mud of the street. My body is not as fast as it was when I was younger, so it took me quite a time to reach the door. When I opened them I found someone lying on the ground. Just as I was leaning to see who it is and in what condition he finds himself in, a lightning flashed and I saw the stranger was actually a man-sized black cat dressed in tattered clothes. I had heard about the cat people before, but until that time I never had the opportunity to meet one. But as we say “Be ready for challenges and unexpected friends”. I noticed the being was unconscious but otherwise seemed unharmed. I dragged him inside, took of his wet clothes, lied him down by the fireplace and covered him with one of my blankets. Over the course of several days I have nurtured him back to full health, at least physically. Emotionally, he was quite a wreck. He wear haunted expression, at least I thought he did, as reading his face was not that easy for me at the time.

He stayed mostly silent at the beginning, but slowly opened himself. He shared my passion for traveling and we spent many hours recounting our adventures. His storytelling skills amazed me and I the tales he told me were interesting no matter what the actual subject was. I kept him mostly inside my house. As you well know, Ustalav is not a friendly place for strangers, especially ones that look more like animals than people. Unfortunately my neighbors do not share my opened views and if he moved freely among them, it would have invited a beating at the least. It is interesting that one such as himself should have saved the village.

Although my new friend had many tales to tell, there was one thing he was unwilling or unable to tell me – his name. I just called him Tomcat, he did not mind. But he did tell me about his past eventually. It was quite a long tale, so I just mention the highlights. He was born in a village somewhere in Garund to some kind of their noble family. He was growing up in quite a comfort till an unfortunate day when something old and evil attacked the village and slaughtered most of its inhabitants. The young cat-man ran away and as I understand, to this day he is ashamed that he did so. It makes him a bit unpredictable as he sometimes has tendencies to sacrifice himself for others.

Later he often joined me during my visit to the university. He often spent hours hiding in the library and perusing the tomes on various topics. Fortunately the librarian is a friend of mine and a fellow Desnan, so he did not share this nation inhabitants’ distrust of outsiders. He even let Tomcat spent many nights there, while I was teaching and spending evenings with my academic colleagues.

This all was interrupted when the strange occurrences started. For reasons you are well aware of, I will not put the specific to words in this letter, though you might rest assured I will gladly share them with you if the opportunity arises and we meet again. What I wrote to you before might have been more than was wise to put to paper. Important fact is, Tomcat proved very knowledgeable about many facts and creatures that appeared during that time and greatly helped the other hunters to locate, identify, protect against and bring down those creatures. Sadly his existence was revealed to the public here and they proved to be as xenophobic as expected. Even I was not able to calm them and was forced to send Tomcat away.

During our last evening together, I suggested he might enjoy a more cosmopolitan place and gave him some advice where to stay and what to visit in Absolom. He seemed thrilled by the prospect and I expect him to want to stay there for a while. Should you have a need for such a character, I assure you do not hesitate to contact him. You can trust him.

As always, I wish you luck with pursuits you are currently involved in.
Yours sincerely,
Marius Lindskoy
Prist of Desna

P.S. One more thing you should know about Tomcat. While he enjoys research and is able to patiently peruse books for days and discuss any topic for hours, once the action starts, it is quite easy to mistake well-thought-out with spur-of-the-moment with him. They look exactly the same. I would probably not go so far to say his actions are rash, but they certainly might be described as surprising or unexpected.

Sneaky knowledge guy with buffing possibilities. No plans for multiclassing.


I've been following this thread with interest for a while, finally decided to throw in with a build. I shall be going with a Ranger (Trophy Hunter). He is the orphaned child of minor Nobility who were wiped out by a fiendish attack. As a witness to the attack, he vowed to wipe out all fiends, and has poured all his efforts into eradicating them. He has trained to use firearms, studied them and their habits and hunts them across the nether regions of the city.

Crunch will follow.


Just posting to announce official interest. I'll be working up some sort of gunslinger-type character from Alkenstar to pair with Baqir. More to come.


Just posting in with my finalised character, fingers crossed!


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Here is the crunch and the background for Laurence Aguehart, Rogue (Investigator). Both the crunch and the backstory are malleable. I just whipped up the backstory real quick in the last hour and didn't give it the usual days worth of thought that I might otherwise, but I didn't want to miss the bandwagon on what I think might be a neat game due to my plodding approach to character creation. If anything can be improved in the statblock, I am totally open to that. I'm happy with it, but someone may see a way for it to be better. I could have just made up a Knowledge (Cults) and given myself ranks in that, but instead I opted to take multiple traits that gave me Knowledge access. Cults come in a wide variety, but I reasoned that the majority center around some Arcane tradition, a weird monster (Dungeoneering), a Religion, and all have some kind of historic tradition. So these seemed to be the primary knowledges for being a specialist in the subject. Likewise, by taking them all I can happily assist other specialists in their fields as though I were more of a generalist about those occult matters, and thus increase my usefulness to the party.

Stat Block:
Laurence Aguehart
Male human rogue (investigator) 5 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 133)
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +10
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Defense
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AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 45 (5d8+5)
Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +4
Defensive Abilities evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 rapier +7 (1d6+1/18-20) or
dagger +6 (1d4/19-20) or
sap +6 (1d6 nonlethal) or
sap +6 (1d6 nonlethal)
Ranged hand crossbow +6 (1d4/19-20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +3d6
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 16
Feats Additional Traits, Combat Expertise, Sap Adept[UC], Sap Master[UC], Weapon Finesse
Traits acolyte of razmir, azlant fanatic, dangerously curious, traditionalist
Skills Acrobatics +11, Diplomacy +10, Disable Device +13, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +11, Knowledge (history) +12, Knowledge (local) +12, Knowledge (religion) +12, Linguistics +11, Perception +10, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +11, Survival +2 (+3 to navigate in the wilderness in Absalom), Use Magic Device +11; Racial Modifiers follow up
Languages Abyssal, Azlanti, Common, Hallit, Infernal, Osiriani, Osiriani, Ancient, Thassilonian, Varisian
SQ rogue talents (finesse rogue, hard to fool)
Combat Gear wand of magic missile, heartstake crossbow bolt (5); Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 rapier, crossbow bolts (30), dagger, hand crossbow, sap, sap, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, area map, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, blue book, book of 1,000 whispers, book of letters, book of puzzles, crowbar, decorative trim, ear trumpet, fishhook (2), flint and steel, footprint book, harrow deck, hat, masterwork thieves' tools, mug/tankard, mwk manacles, pomander, merchant's, serpent line, sewing needle, signal whistle, string or twine, the prophecies of kalistrade, thread (50 ft.), trail rations (7), vest, waterskin, weapon cord, whetstone, wrist sheath, spring loaded (2), 239 gp, 6 sp
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Special Abilities
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Acolyte of Razmir (Knowledge [religion]) +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (local) and Knowledge (religion) checks, and one of these skills is always a class skill for you. This bonus increases to +2 when dealing with specifics of the Razmiri faith.
Area map (Absalom) A geographically relevant map grants a user a +1 circumstance bonus on Survival checks made to navigate in the wilderness. It also can be used to grant the same bonus on Knowledge (dungeoneering) checks made to navigate underground.
Azlant Fanatic (Knowledge [arcana]) You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) checks. One of these skills (your choice) is always a class skill for you.
Combat Expertise +/-1 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Follow Up (Ex) Make two Gather Information checks in the time normally required for one.
Hard to Fool (2/day) (Ex) Can roll 2d20 for Sense Motive check and take the better result.
Sap Adept Gain bonus damage on nonlethal attacks,
Sap Master Deal twice your sneak attack damage when dealing nonlethal damage
Sneak Attack +3d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Trap Sense +1 (Ex) +1 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Retain Dex bonus to AC when flat-footed.
Weapon cord Attached weapon can be recovered as a swift action.

Background:
Amongst the many bourgeois families in the Duchy of Melcat, the Aguehart family were among the least profitable. No one could claim to have a strong financial interest in any particular trade or industry and instead grasped at the most readily available scheme for immediate, liquid profit. This led to a dangerous series of failed ventures that opened the door for desperation. When a man in a mask came to their hometown of Xer, he espoused a pleasing rheotric: the most prominent and wealthiest of the trading families were parasitic opportunists preying upon the have-nots. Identifying as have-nots in spite of their decent collection of real estate and empty office spaces, the Agueharts went to the masked wizard and offered their own properties for temporary housing if only he would clean out these wicked elements. The wizard felt their pain so greatly that he readily shed a small vial's worth of tears and gave it to them for ingestion, promising that their way would soon be clear.

It wasn't long after that Boris and Levia Aguehart began to sing the wizard Razmir's praises, even going so far as to make bold promises of financial security for the members of their extended family. Many accepted the offer, motivated by the sudden violent departure of the local magistrate at this wizard's hands. Those who did not mysteriously came down with terrible waking nightmares, often after an afternoon drinking port in the study or a local lounge, with prophetic visions of excruciating immolation. Of those, some fled to Aerduin, but most joined Boris and Levia Aguehart and marched with the wizard Razmir upon the capital city, Aerduin. The rhetoric slowly transformed from one of social reform to one of spiritual awakening, and when the Duke of Melcat thrice denied the wizard, the Living God visited his divine judgment upon the people, releasing their pitiful souls from their wicked bodies in a cloud that rained fire.

For the next few decades, Boris and Levia Aguehart rose through the ranks of the Razmiran faith, fully indoctrinated into the mysteries of the cult due in no small part to the luxurious lifestyle they now experienced. The Agueharts became Collectors, guiding the locals of occupied Xer up the Tithing Step. Laurence had been a toddler at the time of the Duchy's fall, but as Boris and Levia's only child, he represented the first generation of the Razmiran faith. His childhood was dominated by the stories and the worship of the Living God. Xer became the crucible in which much of this dogma was rapidly manufactured, and the excessive tales of mysterious magic, intrigue and moral judgment appealed to the intelligent and imaginative young man.

When he came of schooling age, it was determined that he would be one of a small collective of Razmiran youth to attend academies abroad, to gather information and to sow the seed's of the Razmiran faith in distant lands. He understood the need for discretion, for it was so said in the words of the Living God that "the only impediment to changing the world is the world itself." Laurence would find his education in the City at the Center of the World, Absalom, the place of Razmir's apotheosis. Laurence traveled to the bustling port city and began his education.

Unsurprisingly, the Aguehart plan failed, like many of their schemes and ventures before the intervention of Razmir. Where Laurence was intended to gain a worldly education and also recruit for the faith and the family, it was that same worldly education that laid a foundation of doubt in his beliefs. Though he wrote home each year in coded script about his accomplishments, he found himself having to embellish and ultimately invent reports of his success. Believing his success but worried about the tone of excitement about his learning, which they saw as a threat to their investment in him, Boris and Levia made the trip to Absalom to set him straight. They did so by supplying him with a great deal of Razmir's Tears with which he was to ply his fraternity brothers and induct them into the mysteries. He did so, and with some success, but unbeknownst to him his parents had been very careless with their traveling papers. Although the papers were forged false identities, the shipping manifest on the vessel they arrived from showed a clear trail back to Xer. An investigator approached Laurence about his parents' whereabouts. His mounting doubts and the realization that his parents were in the wrong to follow a man who so very clearly did not ascend to the status of the Living God here in Absalom spurred him on to betray them and lead the investigator to their safehouse. In short order, the three of them were arrested for trafficking and conspiracy.

Before the magistrate, Levia cried the praises of the Living God in an embarrassing debacle that made the local papers for weeks. Boris, on the other hand, was equivocating. Ever a coward in the face of greater authority, he went so far as to try to blame everything on his wife, Levia, and plead a case for his son's relative innocence. Laurence, not quite of age, was given over as a ward of the state, and after a physician ruled him a product of nurturing, his sentence was commuted in favor of two years of community service. Laurence was assigned to a work program operated by the local clergy of Abadar. For the next several years he continued his education and came to adopt the faith of Abadar, both out of convenience and because the rigid doctrine was a comfortable structure to replace the structure he had lost when he betrayed his family, the Living God...and maybe himself. In this time of moral quandary he read voraciously into the history of cults and their impact on people, and a few authors in particular seemed to speak to him directly. He wrote of his experiences to many of them, and received some replies asking for his account of being an early Razmiran cultist; on the one hand, writing this for them put his story into several published books so that his name and history are subject to search. But on the other hand, putting his life story in writing was liberating and cathartic. The kernel of bitterness smoldering at his core erupted into a moral outrage in particular at the Living God, but in general at any cult that indoctrinates its youth and exploits them for benefit. This led to a deep and abiding obsession with the subject of cults.

Although the general public forgot his involvement in the small Razmiran scandal, the city guard did not, so when he applied to the city guard, Laurence faced an uphill battle. He put in two years on beat in the dock district before his relentless examination of documentation in the Harbormaster's Office earned him a strong vote of confidence for a promotion from the Harbormaster. He was then reassigned as an investigator based out of the palace. But his superiors refused to assign him anything of significant importance and instead relegated him to night shift work, mostly doing filing and clerical work. This went on for three years, and though Laurence was slowly grinding his teeth, he never complained, and as such, never made enough waves to have anyone reconsider his position.

It did, however, afford him time to visit his parents, both still incarcerated in the dungeons of Absalom. Levia despised Boris with a passion for his treachery and clung to the belief in Razmir more out of desperation than anything else - it made her feared in her small penal colony, and Laurence suspected she may have already convinced a few of the criminal women there into their strange beliefs. Boris, on the other hand, had never fully recovered from his addictive personality; though he was no longer able to access Razmir's Tears, he had substituted a plethora of other vices to compensate during his incarceration: illicit white mule, for which he had his sentencing extended; the rare drug slipped into the prison system by corrupt officials; an impromptu fight club; a growing obsession with homoeroticism. Watching both of his parents devolve into their own separate madnesses only fueled Laurence's driving need to prevent others from suffering the same way.

One night while he was looking through paperwork, he noticed that some of the familiar signatures on security post reports were different, in subtle ways. Convinced it was a forgery, Laurence made the choice not to report this to his superiors and instead look into it himself. The glass ceiling was firmly in place, but in a moment of uncharacteristic ambition, Laurence thought he could break through it by force. He investigated the security routes, the guards themselves, using all of the same tactics employed by the city guard's internal affairs department, and in so doing uncovered a lot of suspicious activity that went beyond the few guards on security posts. The presence of coded missives, uniformed clothing in safehouses he broke into, ritual implements and a series of small, unexplained disappearances all pointed to a CULT!

After several months of following this during his nighttime shifts and sometimes the daylight hours when he should have been sleeping, Laurence uncovered a human trafficking ring conducted by the Cult of the Risen Lord, a cabal that believed that believed in the ascendance of an ancient Azlantian in the modern day who would take control of Absalom and rule as a god-emperor. After finding those who had been taken on board an undocumented vessel in open waters and liberating them, he uncovered the identity of the cult leader, who was suspected to be around the yawning pit surrounding the Starstone tower, spying out new victims. Laurence first "anonymously" reported the suspect guards to the internal affairs division and then raced to the heavy crowd around the pit to confront the leader before word reached his ears, knowing that time would be of the essence and information could travel fast, especially with the advent of magical communication.

The cult's leader was warned mere moments before Laurence's arrival, and when it seemed a confrontation was imminent, the cult leader broke free through the crowd and began to run across one of the bridges spanning the distance to the tower. Laurence gave chase and tackled the man, beating him near senseless with a sap, his chosen method of incapacitating subjects for interrogation. When he began his interrogation and the cult leader proved recalcitrant, Laurence defied his training and held the man over the chasm, threatening to let him plummet. He was certain that in the face of death, the man would confess to the crimes and his involvement in a major cult.

Laurence was both right and wrong. There, before the crowd, the man confessed to his crimes, but then ridiculed Laurence for falling for their "cult" cover. The man was, in fact, a low ranking operative in the Aspis Consortium, and the trafficked humans were not intended as sacrifices, as Laurence had speculated, but rather for slave trade.

Although Laurence received praise from the general public for solving a mystery and returning many disappeared people, he was humiliated that his obsession had blinded him to the actual facts of the case. This was a fact that did not set well with his superiors...along with his refusal to report any of this to his superiors and, of course, threatening to throw a man off a cliff if he didn't confess...and so Laurence Aguehart has quietly been placed on leave without pay. His reinstatement is pending.

And so while Laurence waits to find out the future of his career, he gets a strange missive inviting him to meet with a mysterious person. Suspecting a revenge motive from the Consortium, he goes prepared for trouble...


all finished, doublegold


I'll be applying with Marckus, though I may tweak his mechanics somewhat.
After looking at the Shaman on paper, I'm left a bit dissatisfied. His spells and hexes are like a watered-down witch and his melee ability barely goes further than 3/4BAB & d8 HD. It appears to be the class for someone who can't decide what they want to play, as the main advantage appears to be the combination of a full divine spell list with the wandering spirit/hex feature, allowing almost a full rebuild (casting-wise) every day. Jack of all spirits, but master of none it would seem.

Also, since the "editing aliases" bug apparently won't be fixed until next week, I can't change my profile image until then.

I've written a letter to allude to the backstory, but if there's any additional details you might need, be sure to let me know.


@Jetty: Neat presentation; in terms of the game setting, it's all being kept too tight a secret that there would be reccomendation letters sent, but I won't make you rewrite it just because I'm picky. However, as it's generally a rundown of just what the character can offer, could you maybe write up some stuff about their personality and their past a little bit?

@Yossarin: At the moment, recruitment is only set to close probably Monday evening EST, maybe Sunday if everyone's got their characters put together. I don't know how long you usually take to get characters put together, but by all means, take what time you need to get the best you can do. Although frankly the fact your "quick rush job" is already that long? Wow. And you're pretty on-the-nose as far as knowledge rolls for cults go, save for maybe wanting to split some points between Dungeoneering (which won't do much good for monster identification, and I can promise any Lovecrafting cults won't be a main focus because that would turn things into cosmic horror story pretty quickly) and Nobility (plenty of secret socities have formed out of the upper crust of society being weird).


Oooh, Monday. That will give me time to flesh things out. Already made a character, it's just putting her down to paper and flesing out the details.

Basics for your perusal/commentary while I write long-hand the concept.

Monster Hunter:
Susan was raised by a street gang. I know what you're thinking, and you're probably right. She's not the nicest person because of it. Rude, loud-mouthed and blunt; Susan manages to piss of more people then she actually hurts because of her stubborn nature. But she's not as cruel as some might think. No heart of gold, this one. Donating to charities is for those who can afford it and tending to the injured is best left to those who know how. No, Susan's good at only a couple things, really. That's hunting and killing.

One would think that would leave a limited number of jobs, as she only has two skills, but you'd be surprised at the variety of way's each skill could apply. For instance, there's killing things before they notice you, hunting things you don't want to know are hunting you, hunting things that don't want to be found, and so on and so forth. But how did a simple street urchin and not-so-good pickpocket go on to lead such a life?

Well, she'll tell you it's none of your damn business and another thing, shut your mouth before she shuts it for you. I'll be a bit more informative.

There are things on the streets, you know. In the shadows. In the corners that you don't want to look at, those alley ways that you cross the street to avoid. Creatures people don't want to see or even acknowledge, creatures the guards can't handle that are just fine hunting the wayward and leaving the majority alone. Being born on the street, you learn to avoid these things, lest you attract their attention. They're predators, usually, and will pick off the weak, sick and lonely. Let them and survive, is your motto.

Susan's gang was not so lucky, for some of these creatures hunt for sport rather then nourishment. The Blackpowder gang they were called. Why? Guns might be common for those with cash but for the poor gangs on the street's they're about as rare as magic. But this gang had acquired a gun. A single, battered musket. But a gun nonetheless. And with it they carved themselves a little slice of heaven in the dark corners that people don't care to acknowledge.

Until it came. One night, Susan awoke to the smell of copper, strong and painful to inhale. Her eyes, bleary, opened to the sight that would forever be imprinted on her mind. Despite that, even now, she could not describe what it was. A beast of darkness and shadows, it's form twisting with every telling of this tale. It stood over the bodies of her friends, her family, having killed all but her. It's eyes watched her knowingly and it's mouth twisted into a cruel smile.

It had eaten. Now it wanted some fun. It's too bad Susan was never good at accomodating others. Her eyes didn't move, because she knew where it was. Her gang had been drilled on it since day one, just in case a rival gang came while they slept. She dove for the hidden gun. The creature, confused, hesitated a single moment. That was all Susan needed. In one loud crack of thunder, the nightmare was over.

No... No it wasn't. Susan was too old too pretend it was over. She was too old to pretend the guards would care about the dead beast or the dead children. She was too old for such fantasies. The next day, that small corner that had belonged to her gang was empty of life and the one thing that gang prized almost as much as each other. The gun.

Mechanically she's going to be 5 levels of gunslinger (musket master), then everything else will be rogue. She's spent most of her life learning to hunt down dark creatures. She knows a little of everything, when it comes to such monsters, and a lot about how to kill them. Usually though she just relies on her Musket. Despite the fact that it's an older model she has yet to, nor will she ever, trade it for something better. She's gone the extra mile to fix it and upgrade it so it can keep serving her well.

Thanks to one such upgrade, a Distance enchantment, she's pretty effective at long range. In combat she'll likely climb to the rooftops to avoid trouble and fill enemies with lead.

Out of combat she's going to have a lot of points in knowledge skills, especially lvl 6+ when she starts getting rogue amounts of skill points. She'll also be heavily invested in stealth, climb, perception and sense motive; basically things she'll need to be an effective investigator. She'll probably end up picking other things up too, like lockpicking and what not.

If you have any questions feel free! I'd actually encourage them because they'll help me flesh her out. I should be clear, this will most likely just be a summary of her backstory. I tend to write a lot because I enjoy writing in general. Hopefully you like reading. XD

As far as posting goes I'm pretty solid. That'll change a little when I get a job, again, but even then I'll be able to handle once a day with ease. The only day that might not be the case is Sunday, a day where I play my only real-time DnD game. Even then I can get a post in before/after, it's just more about timing.

Edit: Was thinking about it. lvl 6+ might be inquisitor multi-classing instead, choose a god that likes hunting evil things. That class is pretty good about knowledge and stuff. Rogue or inquisitor. Doesn't change the opening 5 levels of pure gunslinger. Might actually let her character decide. She might decide to go inquisitor if she meets a priest that's particularly helpful and they lead her down the path.

Edit 2: The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of her becoming an Inquisitor. It just fits the setting, using knowledge and what not to hunt down creatures. Mechanically it works out pretty well too! I'm thinking it will be explained in her extended background. I might even shift one of her levels to Inquisitor and make 6th lvl the last gunslinger level. -nods- Already have ideas. I love it when characters surprise you and I haven't even started playing this one. XD Your thoughts on this would be appreciated!


Tentatively Monday, but yes. Basically, as long as a single person needs the extension to Monday, it goes until Monday.

Inquisitor would stack better with Gunslinger, given both classes utilizing Wisdom in various ways. You're down a couple skill points per level, but aren't as Int-dependent anymore for Knowledge, and become a much better tracker. Also, no Inquisitor apps as of yet, and while multiple gun users looks pretty likely given the directions everyone's been going in, it's still good to set yourself apart from the pack in that sense.


I saw one other gunslinger. Didn't think there'd be that many to compete with considering everything else people are offering. XD To be fair a chance to play an effective gunslinger is rare and a lot of people love the class.

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I'm starting to fall in love with an Inquisitor Susan. I've even gotten ideas for how her story will flow into it. She leaves the city, ends up trying to fend for herself in the wilds with the gun, and finds herself adopted by a hunter of Erastil. He teaches her a lot but two things really stick. The importance of family, what she lost, and the way of the hunt.

It's actually a little crazy how much the two classes synergize. If it weren't for the group initiative she'd be going first almost all the time. XD

I should be able to finish Susan here tomorrow and if not Sunday, but you never know. I've been sick all week so I might end up passing out.

Edit: Also, I love the Dresden Files. You read them much?


There's one Gunslinger/Holy Gun statted out, and then both Dread Pirate Hurley and Gavmania have guns in mind. Interest has been pretty tight, and for four people to have that in mind means that "the guns person" won't be a token niche. It's definitely not something I mind, as obviously it's not the everyday campaign that allows it, and it definitely fits the aesthetic and theme perfectly. But having something to bring other than "the guns person" certainly helps.


Ahh. Well for at level 5 she'd be the 'guns person and scout'. Think I came to late to the party to keep Susan as is?

Hrm... With this many gun users I think I'll go a different route. I have another character that works perfectly with the setting. Indeed... he'll work perfectly... I'll have him up tomorrow! Hopefully done by Monday.


No, you didn't come too late. If you're splashing in Inquisitor then you've managed to set yourself apart mechanically and provide something other than shooting, and honestly even going Gunslinger straight through isn't necessarily a death sentence if your character is strong enough fluff-wise to keep me interested.

And I didn't see your previous edit until now, but yes, I adore The Dresden Files. It's one of the major influences on this game, conceptually.


I love the series as well. It's actually one of my favorite, and not just because of how reliable he is with getting them out every year. XD

I've got another concept. I didn't even think of it until now, but it's one that I've loved for a while cause it's based off my first DnD character ever. Sort of. XD I'd honestly have just as much fun playing him as I would Susan so I'm going to give you a brief summary of him too. Each summary is going over a defining moment of the character. Susans was definitely not her whole story just as this wasn't isn't Grey's.

Doctor Grey:
It doesn't make sense. He kept telling himself that as he poured over his research, looking for clues. It should have worked. The formulae, it was perfect! His eyes, cold small things behind classes, shifted back and forth swiftly as they sorted through the various calculations before him.

What went wrong?

The young man, his countenance placing him no older then twenty eight, turns toward the body on the bed. His dear wife, Abigail. The only woman, the only person, to ever make him feel anything beyond bored and dull. So intelligent, so kind, she made him better just by being.

She's dead because of you.

"NO!" He roars, sweeping the contents of his desk off the table. They clattered to the floor loudly, some beakers breaking while the papers scatter.

Your cure didn't work.

"It should have! Would have, had I the time. A subject too test it on. But no, she wouldn't want that."

Does it matter what she wants? She's dead. Because of you. Those cold eyes narrow as he looks up and across the room to his mirror. His reflection there. The other self he was arguing with, but a figment of his imagination. He could see himself saying all of these things. "You weren't smart enough, weren't fast enough, weren't strong enough. If you had been able to take that beast in, you would have had all you needed!"

He glared at the mirror, at himself, and tossed one of his books at it. Then he then turned away from the shattered reflection and moved to the bedside of his beloved wife. Abigail. He knelt beside her and a smile crossed his lips as he held her hand. Until he realized just how cold it was. As cold as it had been the last time he had touched it. His smile faltered. His words came out broken, threatening tears that would never come. "It's okay Abby, it's okay... I'll find a cure yet. I'll save you."

You're too late... she's dead...

But the Doctor Grey refused to here it. He was a genius, a marvel of the medical community. He could do with science what even some clerics could not achieve with magic! He would save her. He had too. Otherwise, what was the point in living?

He stared at the body, holding the hand, feeling his world slowly fall away. Grey stayed there for several long minutes, unable to do anything else. His eyes fell to the mark on her arm out of habit, the mark that had started it all. The mark created by the dark creature that had bitten her that fateful night, weeks ago.

He studied that mark with a calculated look and a cold determination filled his eyes. Colder even then the corpse of his wife, who had died not a few hours before. The tears never came.

What was the point of living without Abigail, he had asked?

A week later the Doctor's shop was closed and he had left town. A month went by before anyone heard of him. 'Conspiracy Hunting' they called it. Chasing after shadows. No one wanted to accept the truth, that he was really hunting monsters, studying them. They dismissed rumors of such and decided to believe the best. He found a farm to live on and another wife to make him happy.

------------------------------

Mechanically he's a frontliner to help protect all the gun users. He'll be focusing on Physical combat and probably going Master Chymist at higher levels. In combat, his mutagen will change him quite drastically, creating an amalgamation of the horrible things that go bump in the night. The base form looks very much like a werewolf, the creature that killed his wife, who was too weak to even change form. As he grows in level it might gain scales or other nasty bits that will make his visage all the more horrifying.

Out of combat, Doctor Grey will have plenty of unique skills he can call to the fore. He'll have high knowledge skills with a very good intelligence score, the ability to stabilize others, and can even provide potions on request at cheap costs; making him a pretty good support addition to the group. He can also use wands, so giving him a Wand of Cure Light Wounds means he can serve as a healer out of combat as well. And he still has a decent perception and Stealth score, making him a unique case of being capable of scouting and frontlining.


I'm about halfway there - enough that one can hopefully get a feeling for my character. I might have time to do it later tonight, but most likely I won't be finished until tomorrow. Stuff needed to finish: Last piece of backstory, physical and personal description as well as some more work on the datasheet (items and feats mostly).

I ended up picking up a level of Investigator to get access to a few class skills of choice. In the future, another level might come in handy for the use of the Empiricist archetype.

What Miranda is good at:
*Trap disposal
*Illusions
*"Rogue" skills
*Investigative skills
*Minor magical skills
*Running quickly

What Miranda isn't very good at:
*Raw combat
*Most social skills
*Restorative magics
*Buffing

Datasheet, so far:
Miranda

Tiefling (Small Grimspawn) Occultist 4, Investigator 1
NG Small Outsider (Native)
Init +3; Senses Perception +, Darkvision 60 ft., Scent

DEFENSE

AC , touch , flat-footed (+ armor, +3 Dex, +1 size)
hp (5d8+10)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6
Resistance: Cold, Fire & Electricity 5

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee +5 Bite (1d4+1)
Ranged +8 Pepperbox (1d6, x4 20ft., 6/6)

Extracts
1st - Heightened Awareness, Shield, X

Spells
2nd (2/day) - Blur, Locate Object, Warp Wood
1st (5/day) - Silent Image, Comprehend Languages, Feather Fall
0 - Ghost Sound, Detect Magic, Message

Inspiration (4/4)

Implements (12 Focus power daily)

Divination
Resonant Power - Third Eye (Improves vision)
Flash of Insight (1p) Swift Action to grant +2 insight bonus on: ability or skill check, attack roll

Illusion (Ring )
Resonant Power - Distortion (Concealment: 5% per point, max 5% +5% /2 per level)
Minor Figment (1p) Ghost Sound or Minor Image (4 rounds)
Unseen (1p self, 2p touch) Invisibility (4 minutes)
Recast Unseen (1p, intermidiate action)

Transmutation
Resonant Power - Legacy Weapon (Enchantment quality equal to points/3 [max +2])
Psychic Weapon (1p) Swift Action to grant 1 weapon a +1 enchantment bonus (1 minute)
Burst of Speed (1p) Swift Action to gain +30 ft. Land speed (1 minute)

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Grasping Tail,
Traits Blood Stalker (Race), Child of Nature (Religion)
Skills Acrobatics (5) +11, Appraise (1) +9, Bluff (5) +9, Climb (1) +5, Craft, Diplomacy, Disable Device (5) +13 (+14 vs traps), Disguise, Escape Artist (1) +7, Fly, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana, 1) +9, (Religion, 1) +9, (History, 1) +9, (Local, 1) +9, Linguistics, Perception (5) +8 (+9 vs traps), Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand (5) +13, Spellcraft (5) +13, Stealth (5) +15, Survival (5) +10 (+12 on tracking damaged foes), Use Magic Device (5) +11
Languages Common, Infernal, Halfling, Gnome, Dwarven, Goblin
SQ: Maw, Nr 53, Fiendish Resistances, Skilled (Disable Device, Sleight of Hand), Prehensile Tail, Trapfinding 1, Inspiration, Implements (Illusion, Transmutation, Divination), Mental Focus, Magic Item Skill (+2), Object Reading, Shift Focus

Gear worn: Headband of Vast Intelligence +2

Formula Book: Heightened Awarness, True Strike, Shield, Polypurpose Panacea, Reduce Person

Reciet
-4000 Headband
-1050 Mwk Pepperbox

Backstory, so far:
Miranda

Youth
Mirandas parents belonged to a rare subset – free Egorian halflings. Successful conservators they made a living resorting the nobles family artefacts and heirlooms too delicate for the tall folks to handle, yet to precious to entrust with slaves. Considering the popularity of Devil worship and occultism in Cheliax, especially among the wealthier upper class, it was no wonder that a significant portion of the artefacts exhibited some sort of magical taint – the use of obscure or poorly performed rituals were actually a frequently stated reason for the item to need some repair work. They did the best to protect themselves with both warding circles and protective spells, but the near constant exposure to the fell energies left their taint. Nothing obvious, no. The insidious corruption only revealed itself in their first daughter – Miranda.

For blood-red eyes, fully formed razor sharp teeth and a pointy tail were certainly not what one expected healthy halfling babies to have.

The pair was shocked and horrified at what their child was – a Tiefling, a creature tainted by evil itself. Yet they could not blame the young child for its predicament, they knew fully well that the responsibility lay solely with themselves and their line of work. Deciding to not risk exposing their young daughter to any more unhealthy influences the pair promptly packed up their business, sold their home and moved to Absalom within weeks of her birth. The market for their particularly brand of skills weren’t as highly treasured in the City at the Centre of the World and instead of highborn heirlooms they mostly refurbished goods scavenged from the Cairnlands. Nevertheless, they never regretted their decision: Miranda grew up quite normal, never succumbing to any thirst for chaos, mayhem and destruction (well, not more than normal for a growing child). She did however exhibit an uncanny connection to trinkets – with a mere touch they would sometimes whisper their secrets to her.

Finder
When Miranda came of age she had already developed a healthy curiosity for relics of ages past. When she helped out in her parents shop, it was always the oldest objects that had the best stories. Broken blades told tales of valour and cracked cups spoke of chilling betrayal. As such is came as no great surprise when she took her first job on an archaeological expedition undertaken in the Cairnlands to excavate the site of an old battle. On that line her life continued for a few years. Sometimes she worked alone or with just a few fellow scavengers, sometimes as part of a larger effort like her first expedition.

Then, one day she found her most curious finding yet. She was working for an old and decrepit mage together with a handful other hired hands. They didn’t know each other very well but quickly bonded over the campfire, complaining about their employer - the fervour and desperation of which the ancient wizard sought what was buried in the ground led him to enforce long days and few breaks. Worse yet, he refused to tell them exactly what they were looking for! Each time they found something he would come over, then mutter in disappointment. Until she found the box that was. It didn’t look like much – just a tiny metal cube with a stripe of faded parchment attached. Tired after a long day of work, she dutifully called over the withered man.

As she waited she examined the box – and as many times before she hear the item whisper. It showed her a spire so vast that it pierced the sky, so sharp and narrow that it couldn’t be the work of mortal hands. It showed her a large procession of featureless men and woman walking though the nothing towards the looming spire. Then, one of the forms stepped out of the line – laughed and turned his back on the spire. A shudder of confusion and jealousy the procession halted for a moment, turning to look. But in an instant, the man was gone and the procession continued their slow walk towards the inevitable.

The scene disappeared before her eyes, the box ripped out of her hands by their employer. Gleefully the old man laughed and retreated back into his tent. Disoriented and for once without the watchful eye of their employer, Miranda and the workers unanimously decided that the day was over and retreated back the camp. At the wake of dawn, they woke from the shrieks of the lookouts. Dazed and confused Miranda looked around before finding the intruder – a man wearing ancient robes standing in the middle of the camp, in front of their employer’s tent. Somehow she recognized him, she knew he was the man that the box had shown. The man flicked his wrist and the tent withered away – but it was empty and its former occupant long gone. With a soul-curdling shriek the man turned around and gazed into the camp, his empty sockets alight with eerie blue fire. The occasional risen skeleton or zombie was an occupational hazard she had long learned to deal with, but this was something different. Miranda turned her tail and ran, ran like she never had before, not stopping or looking back before she was inside the gatehouse of Absalom.

Seeker
*Current occupation: Finding things or “people”
*Why switch? – Insight into the importance
Goal
*Find previous employer -> destroy box
Dream
The Starstone fell from the sky beyond our world – now it rests within the most dangerous places in the know world. But imagine what stories it could share – of worlds beyond ours, of the ascension of gods!

Finally, I have another question!

Would you allow a Outsider (Native) to use Disguise Self/the Disguise skill to look like an ordinary Humanoid if needed?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Thanks,Spook. I think I can get Nobility in there as well easily. I see a lot of others are taking some caster classes or pumping UMD, but even at the risk of overlapping I really think the UMD fits because as you can see from the equipment he is a person who likes little enigmas and puzzle boxes and such. Plus an arcane investigator needs to be able to manipulate certain magical devices.

The backstory carries the essentials and should offer you a good deal to work with, from the well documented childhood experience to the recent takedown in Absalom to the imprisoned parents. I may revisit it just to clean up some details unless there is something you see that needs attention.


@Marko: Scrapping Susan for someone without guns works too, sure.

@Lessah: I'd allow it; I'm surprised to find that Aasimar and Tieflings don't at least partially have the humanoid type for that purpose, actually.

@Yossarin: UMD isn't the worst skill to have redundancies for.


@Disguise Self - Yeah, it leads to some ... interesting situations :)

In this short time I managed to come up with yet another query - Item Crafting. More specifically, I was considering the Craft Wondrous Items feat for Miranda - I felt it might fit her trinket-o-mancer feel.

Would it be okay to A) Have Item Crafting feats (I know some dislike them!) and B) Start with some items crafted?

Note: Know that there is a slight risk that if B) is positive, I might end up starting with 50-90% of my wealth in a pile of Wondrous Items ... : )

Edit: @UMD - Yeah, it sucks when the only UMD partymember roll just a tiny bit too low to cast that critical Remove Curse ... :)


I'll allow crafting feats.


Update: I'll be throwing in with a Ranger with the Trophy Hunter and Skirmisher archetypes for a little more gun expertise and to get rid of divine spellcasting. Changing the tech level does interesting things to the game mechanically, especially when it comes to picking feats.

Next post should include the crunch and hopefully backstory if Baqir and I can get it sorted out enough for both of us to submit that today.

Thematically, I'm channeling characters like Rick O'Connell and Jack Burton into a pulp action cowboy who shuns magic and whose only real expertise lies in knowing how to kill weird things real good. Like I told Baqir, I think this game could benefit from a mundane character to give the Holmes-lympics competitors something to play off of, like a rough-and-tumble cowboy Watson. Or maybe a little Karrin Murphy/Agent Scully if the DM prefers.


Of all the influences I expected people to bring to the table, I definitely wasn't counting on Jack frigging Burton. By all means, go ahead; Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorite movies, so I can dig it.

The Exchange

I'll withdraw Marckus due to total dissatisfaction. If I can come up with something else, I'll post it. If not, don't hold the deadline for me.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Jack frigging Burton. That is all.

By contrast, Laurence is intended to start as the "straight-laced" lawman who is finding his laces not to be as straight as he thought. But he still thinks that in order for people to live decent lives, problems like the one alluded to in the letter need to be contained and managed. He is a devoted Abadaran but echoes of his Razmiran zeal may shine through at times. I cannot point to a specific influence save that his trope appears in the genre as the "helpful investigator" in the department or with department experience. His occult interests are what mark him as particularly useful to whatever benefactor is there...even though he suspects a trap.

I forgot to mention anything about future build plans. I have no plans for multi-classing and I cannot think of a prestige class that solidly hits the mark, but am open to suggestions. I expect the growth to be organic and stort-based so if a curveball comes then it can be discussed then. But the plan is to stay a very atypical LN rogue.


Background:
Born to a simple farming village in a simple far away town, one would think that William Greyson was destined to be much like his father or mother, or their fathers or mothers, or theirs and so on and so forth. Plain. Ordinary. Farmers, midwife's, the occasional merchant. But William was born odd.

At the age of five, his parents caught him reading all on his own. The book was one about the human body, a text that his mother was struggling through to be a better midwife. He apparently understood it quite easily. His mother and father never did figure out when he learned to read but as he got older it became clear that he had a voracious intelligence. Books became a common household item, borrowed from the local temple on weekly trips. He studied many things, but his focus was always on, curiously enough, biology.

He was around the age of ten that his parents found him dissecting animals over books in the forest near their house. He had been catching small critters with traps or chasing and cutting them open with a small hunting knife he had found. The sight was certainly disturbing but no amount of explanation could make the child understand why it was wrong. In the end, the parents were forced to punish him and simply tell him not to do it again. Will, for his part, was ultimately confused but not deterred.

By the age of fourteen, William had apprenticed himself to the local healer and his research had grown ever more important to him. His parents didn't know about his desire to learn more about the body in the most gruesome ways. He had learned his lesson at ten. No, they thought him 'fixed', his oddities gone, and his ambition on track. Town healer was an important position after all. The temple in their village rarely had clerics visiting and the people of the village couldn't afford magical healing. He, thus, surprised them by leaving at the age of Sixteen. He gave no forwarding address and left no hint as to where he was going.

William Grey, as he began to call himself to distance himself from his family, arrived in the capitol of his nation ready to change the world. Under one arm, his Formulae book, the experimental study of Alchemy having born some success. In the other, all the money he had. Enough for a single, small basement for a month. By his calculations that was all he would need. Grey spent the day preparing his presentation in his new basement apartment.

The next day he went to those he had written letters to and in front of their very eyes showed them something they had never seen before. Magic without magic. He created for each of them a single potion, in front of their very eyes, and did so without the barest slivers of magical talent. He told each of these fine nobles that he could recreate this whenever he wanted. Admittedly, as intelligent as he was, Grey did have some blind spots. He was not expecting it when the majority of them laughed.

What did it matter that he could create normally magical things through science? They had magic! In abundance! And no shortage of money, these nobles.

The talented young man was disheartened. Each noble that refused him seemed to be another confirmation that his parents were right, that his odd nature was just going to leave him broke and destitute. It wasn't until he visited the last noble, someone he had almost overlooked during his research due to the mans lack of political influence, that things changed.

First, the door was not opened by the noble himself, nor was it opened by a servant. Instead, it was opened his daughter, a young woman named Abigail Harding hardly a year younger then him. Second, as Abigail lead young Grey through the large mansion, he found himself looking at things that did not decorate a typical noble's home. Rather then artwork, he found himself staring at books. Hundreds of them lining dozens of shelves. Growing up on a farm, with naught but what could be scrounged from merchants who cared little for such things or borrowed from the temple, all of these books were a sight to behold.

Grey was lead into a small study that looked like his own, if less refined and filled with more expensive garbage that people claimed worked. There he found the noble, Devan Harding himself, focused so intently on a single vial. Abigail gave Grey what might have been a conspiratorial look, then coughed to attract her fathers attention. He jumped, startled, and whirled to face them. Then his eyes widened and he whirled back toward the vial of liquid. It remained inert. He sighed.

"Darn it Abby, I told you, no visitors while I'm working." The man sounded tired.

Abigail gave Grey another look and the young man found himself actually paying attention to it this time. She was rolling her eyes. His studies indicated that was often meant as a sign of contempt. Yet she was also smiling. Teasing, perhaps? She smiled at Grey and then more so at her father. "It's Mr. Grey, father. The young man whose theories you've been trying to recreate because he'd likely get snatched up by one of those 'Gods forsaken vultures'."

Devan Harding turned and looked at his daughter with a frown, not appreciating the language or the fact that she was merely repeating something he had said, then narrowed his eyes on Grey and studied him intently. His frown did not go away. Truth be told, Grey was used to that sort of look. Abigail's, which were so familiar and friendly, were by and far a rarity. Grey wasn't handsome by any means. He was tall, lanky, without muscle or fat. His skin was ever pale despite having grown up on a farm and his clothing was simple, focused on utility. The ragged mop of brown hair on his head only served to distract from his eyes.

Those eyes often unnerved people, he was told. Despite having to wear glasses, an overt sign of weakness in the eyes, people had trouble meeting his. Devan had no such trouble. Then again, neither did his daughter. Perhaps he needed a larger pool of people to study from. As he was making this mental note Devan began speaking. "Ah, William. So good to actually see you. I honestly expected you to be offered a job long before you got to me. Come in, come in."

William seemed like he was ready to stay at the edge, uncertain what social protocol he was dealing with, but Abby was having none of it. With a confidence born of something Grey had little understanding of she looped an arm around his and pulled him in, then directed him toward a seat. Will found himself taking it without even realizing he had decided too. Largely because he hadn't.

"The majority of them seemed to find my presentation entertaining." Will began, his voice largely neutral with only a touch of the contempt he felt. "If their laughter was any indication. None of them seemed to realize what it was I was showing them."

Devan raised an eyebrow at that and studied Will a little more closely. Then he nodded. "It's a sad world we live in where knowledge can be mocked so readily. Well, you have one more presentation. Are you ready?"

Will looked at the lab that Devan had set up and made some calculations in his head. It took him maybe a minute to nod, stand and begin work. To his surprise both father and daughter watched over his shoulder with rapt attention, and Abigail asked as many questions as her father did, some of them even more important then what her father was focusing on.

By the end of it, Will had created his last potion for the day. He turned to face the pair and showed it to them. Then, to demonstrate, he drew a knife across his arm. The pair were surprised and moved to stop him but he raised his hand until the line was good and visible. Then he raised the potion to them and drank it. The line faded before their wide eyes.

The problem with Devan's set up was that it completely ignored magic all together, Will said. This seemed to be a counter-intuitive thought when Will had promised to create potions without magic, but the young lad explained that Magic was not the energy that suffused everyone. It was the talent, the ability to access it through will or study. The energy itself was like any other form of energy. Will's method allowed anyone with sufficient diligence to access it. Some would be more successful then others, but in the end, the difference was that it wasn't just a 'fluke chance' that let some people be born with inborn magical talent while others were not.

Devon and Abigail both listened intently and once again both of them were asking questions. They both tested his knowledge and wit that day and by the end of it the three had become enraptured in a deep discussion about the possibilities. Grey went to leave, but Devon instead offered him a room to stay in. This surprised the young lad but he accepted anyway, honestly exhausted by the day's efforts.

The next day, Devon officially became Grey's sponsor, and together with Abigail the three began researching different ways that the technique could be applied. Over the next four years, Devon was the one to uncover the potential it had with explosives. Abigail's research, surprising Grey, took his potions forumlae's further then he could ever take them himself. And with Devon's financial backing, Grey was able to study animals and create a concoction that changed the very nature of what it meant to be human.

During this time Grey and Abigail grew close. Grey saw in Abigail a peer he had never thought to meet, someone with intelligence to match or even exceed his own. She made his days brighter and the time without her seemed dimmer by comparison. Abigail found Grey socially awkward, blunt, and basically everything that a noble would not be. At first that was all she found in Grey, but as time went on she began to fall for the man rather then the man he was not. The brilliant intelligence, the dry wit, the surprising shows of kindness to her when she fell asleep at her research table.

Her father saw and while he didn't quite understand he did left the decision to her. Grey and Abigail were wed during their fifth year and as a wedding present Davon purchased for them a small but well equipped building on one of the main roads in the city. Here, the pair opened a shop, offering magical healing at half the cost as the temples and expert medical advice. Here, the two lived happily, with Grey always wondering how he had lived before Abby entered his life.

Until... That fateful night three years into their marriage. A tragedy, it was called. A werewolf had snuck into the city one night and attacked a young woman. Many people, both in the noble circles and amongst the common folk, knew of Abigail Grey. She was a kind and intelligent woman with charisma to spare, who always made it a point to treat everyone she could. Everyone knew as well of her odd husband. The cold, rude, distant young man they all assumed she had been married off too. No one was surprised at how devastated he was when she succumbed to the disease. It was obvious he would never get so lucky again. No one was surprised either when the young Doctor closed shop and left the city. And when rumors began to circle of a similarly disheveled, pale young man chasing after ghost stories and rumors... well... You figure it out.

After Abigails death, Doctor Grey seemed to change. His father in law, one of the few people who understood the lad almost as well as his daughter had, found himself unable to comfort Grey. He was too busy mourning the loss of Abby. And when Grey vanished from the city, Devan Harding found himself without his son too, alone. Unlike Grey, Devon's despair did not keep it's hold. The nobleman, if anything, became more driven then ever to see his families research change the world so that no other father would have to lose their daughter because 'the proper cure's' did not exist yet or because 'magic failed'.

As for Grey? Well, the rumors weren't wrong. He began hunting Ghosts and shadows looking for answers. His question? That didn't seem very important. As time went on, Grey began to get a bit of a reputation. It was much less friendly then that of the expert Doctor he had once been. Doctor Grey, monster hunter. In truth, he did more then just hunt down the monsters that went bump in the night. He found their bodies to be quite an opportunity. A learning experience, if you will.

Physical Description:

Doctor William Grey stands at 6'4 and weighs only 190 pounds. He looks like he weighs even less. His limbs seem long and gangly, his skin is pale and unhealthy, and his short brown hair is always a mess. He's almost always seen wearing glasses over cold blue eyes. A lot of times he forgets to shave, leave odd stubble that is neither neat nor roguish on his features. William is not handsome.

During the day, William will wear simple travelers clothing that could be mistaken for Doctors Clothing. A long white coat, neatly kept, and comfortably sharp black clothing beneath. But at night, or when he's on the hunt, William wears an outfit that is much more eclectic. Harnesses filled with vials, a bag heavy with equipment such as vials and scalpels, a rope tied to a hook on his waist and a longspear that rises over one shoulder. And the glasses. Still the glasses.

Despite his physical appearance Will is much stronger then he appears. He theorizes that this has something to do with his mutagenic concotion, that long term use has slowly changed his body's chemical make up.

Other successful experiments have given him some what... disturbing abilities. At will he can change not only the color of his skin, hair and any other portion of his body but also the color of any equipment on him. He is currently working on enhancing the bodies natural ability to heal and has met with limited success as well. A cut or two will simply vanish in a day on him and he seems excited about a breakthrough coming shortly.

Personality:

Doctor Grey is a cold and analytical sort. He rarely gets excited, startled, angry, afraid, or really anything. The few times he has been seen with any emotion on his face in recent days is when he's got a new specimen to study. He is not completely without humanity of course, but his focus is definitely on his research, and his research now a days is turned to the most disreputable of subjects.

Outside combat situations this man is blunt and rude. He has little understanding of how to deal with others and doesn't seem very intent on learning. He does not mean to insult others, he just doesn't really care. This wasn't always the case. There have been in the past some few people who could bring out a less cold and disinterested side in him. Then he seems less insulting and more... awkward. Not quite shy but close to it.

Mechanical Summary:
Alchemist (Vivisectionist/Beastmorph) 5
Inspiration: Dr. Jekyll, Marcone, Mad Scientists everywhere (Seriously, he experiments on himself. Veeeeeeeery creepy. XD)

Stat Block: Working on it now

In combat-
In combat Doctor Grey will be a frontliner. His feats, discoveries and items are focused on allowing him to deal and take damage. He's actually quite decent at it too.

Out of Combat-
He can do a great many things. He's got a decent amount of skill points, several knowledge skills, his knowledge (nature) skill can be used to make heal checks, he can use wands (though not scrolls) of any spell on the Alchemists Formulae list, he can create potions on demand for anyone in the party, he's got a decent sneak skill (especially thanks to his Chameleon abilities), and he's pretty smart. I imagine him as a lesser skill monkey with a focus on knowledge, scouting and tracking.

Edit: His cold, detached nature and lack of interest in socializing are going to be a big part of his character. To be clear, I don't plan on playing him to be a dick to the party. I'm all for working together and so on and he's smart enough to see the benefits. But a Face he is not. I'll probably be getting some fun out of him pissing of NPC's and I can imagine there being a sort of animosity free 'stupid doctor' kind of stuff going around when he shows just how bad at he is with people.

He can't compete with a rogue for all of the skill points they have but he can come close at 8 points a level. His extracts will also give him a limited 'spell batman' vibe. I plan on taking a few in particular that will be handy for several different situations. If anyone has a request for extracts he should get to make potions I'd be open to them.


I'm gonna have to pull out. I was hoping to give him a Musket, but in order to fire it more than once per turn he would need 3 levels of Gunslinger (Musket Master), which is too much of a dip for my liking and would mean doubling up on many of the features of Trophy Hunter. I'm not gonna have the time to go back to scratch on this one, so I will have to pull out.
Sorry.


Alright, Dr. William Grey is now updated with a Statblock. It has everything from his abilities to his background. There was another there for a while, please ignore that one, it was a character that never had the chance to get off the ground.

Edit: If you get the chance critique would be nice. Even if I get in with what's there I'd like to improve this guys backstory and character as much as possible.


made a change to him, since carrying capacity matters not and str score only affects lifting really heavy objects, the heavyload belt will provide with little assistance and thus I don't need it, and I got myself the hat of disguise.

Edit, on the subject of guns, my character has a gun, but is not a gunslinger or does not specialize in guns. He has the gunsmithing feat, but the gun is more like a secondary weapon to him. His gun is a double-musket, but his main weapon is a bow. He is a sniper somewhat. Now the gun will make noise, so I'd be careful not to use it in some many situations, but when I need to snipe someone, say someone with mithril plate on with magical bonuses added to it, who needs killed quickly, the musket sniping would be perfect for that situation where vs touch makes a lot of difference.

edit, he is also a slyph not an elf, I just haven't been able to change my avatar lately as been having problems with it.


Nidoran Duran wrote:

@Jetty: Neat presentation; in terms of the game setting, it's all being kept too tight a secret that there would be reccomendation letters sent, but I won't make you rewrite it just because I'm picky. However, as it's generally a rundown of just what the character can offer, could you maybe write up some stuff about their personality and their past a little bit?

I understood it is secret, just thought that the priest could be an old acquaintance of the employer, who recommended Tomcat not for a specific job, but “just in case you need someone like that”. Being priest he could even get some notion (divination etc.) that the employer might want to know about such a person without really knowing any details.

As my weekends are really time-sensitive, here is a quick (and definitely not exhausting) draft of personality and history. That is all I can do before Monday.

Personality:

Tomcat is generally friendly but distrustful of new people, as he has been hurt by some who seemed to be friends in the past. Though once he gets to know someone, he becomes protective. Sometimes even overprotective - he is able to sacrifice himself for his friends as he feels the need to prove himself worthy. Being the last surviving member of his village left him with guilt and remorse. He is often quick to act and even might appear to be suicidal at times.

Background:

He grew up in his father’s tribe’s village in the savanna of central Garund. When he was teenager, his tribe was betrayed by a band of travelers masked as archeologists. One night during rain season they approached the village and not long after they were offered food and shelter, they unleashed host of devils upon the unsuspecting village. All catfolk were slain save the young Tomcat, who was outside the village when the attack begun. He saw the slaughter from afar but was too afraid to approach. He fled into the wilderness and spent the night alone in the bushes shivering in the constant rain. When he returned the next day, there was no sign of the attackers.

He buried the whole village which took him several days and vowed to never again to be a coward and to do anything in his power to be prepared for any unexpected encounters in the future. He also decided to bury his name with his family.

He spent the next several years travelling and attending several universities around the Inner See. His aim was to gather information about any and all natural and supernatural dangers the common folk might be facing. He also sought any information about the mysterious travelers and their reason to attack his village. While his first goal was easily achieved and his knowledge of the unknown and dangerous grew constantly, he has yet to find any clues about the origin of the evil group.

During his travels he battled evil whenever he encountered someone he deemed was worth saving. He often fled soon after the deed as he found out quite early in his life that not everyone including authorities had the same view on the matter of who or what is evil and needs to be neutralized. Fortunately he often found like-minded individuals who helped him in his endeavors at least for a time.

His quest has led him north to Ustalav. Shortly after his arrival he was waylaid by a group of incorporeal undead and while he escaped them this experience was quite traumatic. He ended up staying with an old priest of Desna, with whom he shared not only religion, but also penchant for telling stories. This proved to be fortunate as the locals were vastly more xenophobic then the people living around the Inner Sea. The village where he was staying became the center of several weird occurrences. A weird cabal of several supernatural creatures was preying on the inhabitants. Creatures, which are usually not known to work together. A vampire and a werewolf led the group, but there was even some evil fey involved. It seemed like someone was pulling the string in the background, but this was never proven. Tomcat joined a group of hunters and they successfully dealt with the threat. During the festivities that followed he was attacked by a couple of drunk locals and he hurt them badly defending himself.

He was forced to leave and once again decided to head to the Inner Sea, this time to visit the fabled Absalom.


List of applicants
Name: starlit Character: Baqir What: Male Kinetcist (Water) 5
Name: Arrathion character: Temerith Paladin of Sarenrae, What: Paladin4/Sorcerer1
Name: Jetty Character: Tomcat What: catfolk bard (archivist) 5
Name: Vaite Belleran Character: Eldak Lightbringer What: Gunslinger (Mysterious Stranger) 1
Name: Doublegold Character: Zirul Huntinghawk What: Slayer 5
Name: D-Kal character: Marckus Allian What: Shaman 5
Name: Marko character: Dr. William Gray What: Alchemist (Vivisectionist/Beastmorph) 5
Name: Yossarin character: Laurence Aguehart what: Male human rogue (investigator) 5
Name: Lessah character: Miranda What: Occultist 4, Investigator 1
Name: wanderer82 Character: Mathias Gabriel what: Oni-Spawn) Ranger2/Warpriest3


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Some of those applicants dropped out and I am not on the list. :)


Buddy cop movie meets Urban horror Fantasy, starring the mad scientist whose out of control and the straight laced Jack Burton as the guy whose meant to real him in. Anyone else think that would sell tickets?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'd buy.


named added to that list now Yossarin, without an alias, it is easy to skip over.


Neither am I =)


no problem the posts have a 1 hour editing time.


Indeed. Thank you!


You can add Mathias Gabriel, Tiefling (Oni-Spawn) Ranger2/Warpriest3 to the list. Trying to fix the alias now. Character of Wanderer82.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Based upon your feedback I swapped out the Dangerously Curious trait for one that allowed me to have Nobility as a class skill. I just shifted all the ranks from Dungeoneering to Nobility because it makes more sense that he would know about that being a very urban sort.


Aside from Baqir and Dread Pirate, is there anyone else who's not done yet? Recruitment closes when everyone's finished, but it would suck to forget about someone and close it too early.


*Raises hand*

I'll try and finish up the backstory and description within a few hours.

Is it okay if I hold off picking gear until later (when I know if Miranda is picked or not : ) )?


Oh, right. I was just skimming to see who had spoilers with all the needed stuff, mised the "so far"s.


Lessah here - Miranda is basically finished and all her stuff is accessible via her alias.

---------------

Question - Is it okay if I hold off picking all the equipment and the last feat until I know if I am picked or not (to adjust to party makeup!)?

---------------


Yeah, that's fine.

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