Oh mighty Paizo Advice Forum, once again I beseech thee in aiding me create another one of my characters. This one's a Herald of Apsu, but not your average herald no, this herald is a Silver Kobold that follows the mighty Waybringer. The problem I am having is how exactly he is the herald, as I can't seem to decide between making him a cleric of the Maker of All who seeks to convert other kobolds and scaly-creatures to his god or a Dragon Herald who acts as a voice of The Exiled Wyrm. Anyone got any suggestions for this Lawful Good Kobold?
Edit: Okay, got some backstory for him although I am not certain how plausible this story might be. Any critiques with constructive criticism would also be nice. Also note that this is a really rough draft of his backstory plus I'm not finished with it, still typing it as we speak.
The being that would become known as Kuzila was once a simple white kobold of the powerful Icerender clan who lived with his clansmen in the Tusk Mountains in northern Avistan. As a white kobold he would go with his brothers on raids to the surface to pillage merchant caravans to give to Lydek the White, a powerful white dragon. It was on one fateful day that he was privileged with being one of the kobolds to take some of their ill-gotten gains to Lydek, where he caught a glimpse of the fearsome mistress of winter. This glimpse of majesty and power reaffirmed his belief in the superiority of dragons and lead him to become even more religious than most of his brothers. It was on another raid that something happened, the caravan they attacked had been a trap and before he realized it many of his brothers and sisters were cut down. Fleeing from the unexpected resistance, he found himself being pursued by some of his foes. Unable to go into the tunnels (some of his ambushers were making short work of anyone that tried to go that way) he fled deep into the mountains on the surface where he eventually fell into a large cavern. Unable to climb back up (partially due to exhaustion and partially due to slippery surfaces) he explored the unfamiliar cave until he found a strange, glowing doorway. Seeing no other way out and being rather curious (normally a fatal trait in a kobold) he entered the doorway and found himself on a strange island in front of a massive cathedral. Confused and amazed by this strange place, he forged ahead into this otherworldly building where he came face to face with none other than Apsu, the Waybringer, who was currently in the middle of an audience with a silver great wyrm. Annoyed by the interruption but curious about how a kobold had found it's way into his home Apsu demanded the kobold's name.
With those racial stats, full support Dragon Herald Bard would be my advice. Aid another and Oration and shoot a shortbow.
With those racial stats, full support Dragon Herald Bard would be my advice. Aid another and Oration and shoot a shortbow.
How many fear spells do bards have? With Frightener and the high intimidation from being a Dragon Herald he could be quite good at debuffing enemies and still be a fantastic diplomat (if purely because a silver kobold singing in common about Apsu might make some people pause just long enough before their kill switches are activated).
Let's see.
Archives of Nethys custom spell search
Spell List: Bard
Descriptors: [fear]
Fear
Cause Fear
Feast on Fear (Of special note because it's a Fort save fear spell. Very rare.)
Haunting Mists
Hydrophobia
Miasmal Dread (Half-Orc only, sadly. but ask your DM. It's just a 30 cone of Intimidate.)
Scare
Sotto Voice
Vision of Hell (An [evil] spell, so you're probably out of luck here.)
Another note for fear effects in general. They almost always have that HD limit on what can be affected. You'll wanna pick up some buffs and utility in your spell list. Maybe some sonic blasts in case the team runs into crystal/incorporeal creatures.
Another note for fear effects in general. They almost always have that HD limit on what can be affected. You'll wanna pick up some buffs and utility in your spell list. Maybe some sonic blasts in case the team runs into crystal/incorporeal creatures.
Ya, certainly going to have utility and the like for when I can't scare my enemies. Probably the feat Discordant Voice will help against incorporeal and crystal constructs. Still, more sonic abilities wouldn't hurt. Might even look at the Maestro bloodline.
So say I get into a group that is more than willing to let a silver kobold into it but they already have a bard. What divine caster would you recommend in that case (just trying to cover all of the bases)?
Inquisitors with the Conversion inquisition can do the diplo/intimidate thing as long as that's not what the other Bard is doing.
Silver Kobold Oracle with the Scaled Disciple feat qualifies for Dragon Disciple. Pick a Mystery with a more combatative bent, maybe? This would be good if you wanna leave the face skills to the (other, hypothetical) Bard.
Inquisitors with the Conversion inquisition can do the diplo/intimidate thing as long as that's not what the other Bard is doing.
Silver Kobold Oracle with the Scaled Disciple feat qualifies for Dragon Disciple. Pick a Mystery with a more combatative bent, maybe? This would be good if you wanna leave the face skills to the (other, hypothetical) Bard.
Yeah, the Dragon Disciple route I've got for a gold kobold of the Battle Mystery I've made. Fun times would be had. I suppose that if there was another Bard I'd just get my other character Smlensk (the golden kobold) and play as him. I really like Kobolds as a race (which is why I'm making a bunch as we speak).
Inquisitor also qualifies for Scaled Disciple... so you can go conversion for the social abilities there.
And have 2 completely different builds into dragon disciple.
But for bard, instead of the Dragon Herald most people would expect, take the Frightener alt racial and the Dragon Yapper archetype, and be a massive debuffer.
Yapping Song, Blistering Invective, and depending on the GM's call on Masterpiece/Performance interactions and you can do wonders.
Flavored as extolling the greatness of Apsu, which demoralizes those lesser creatures that would stand against his earthly agents... it's just funny.
That certainly is an option. Will have to look into that.
I think Dragon Yappers Yapping Song debuffs allies, doesn't it? Could be potentially annoying if the Herald was summoned to assist anyone.
Well the only reason I would think that it applies to allies, too, is that penalties to attacks and damage are usually stronger than bonuses. I thought that applying to all was more or less the balancing factor.
This is what the court bard offers.
Satire (Su): A court bard can use performance to undermine the confidence of enemies who hear it, causing them to take a –1 penalty on attack and damage rolls (minimum 1) and a –1 penalty on saves against fear and charm effects as long as the bard continues performing. This penalty increases by –1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. Satire is a language-dependent, mind-affecting ability that uses audible components. This performance replaces inspire courage.
You'll see its the same.
That's fair. They do replace different abilities, but it seems like they deem the bonus and penalty roughly equal.
I stand corrected.
I wonder how many language dependent spells are there in the Bard's spell list. If I was a Dragon Herald at level 10 if I spoke draconic for said language dependent spells wouldn't it affect anything that can understand a language due to draconic's upgrade from being a level 10 Dragon Herald?
Indeed it would.
You'd think language dependant spells would be the Bard's forte. Let's see.
Archives of Nethys custom spell search
Spell List: Bard
Descriptors: [language-dependant]
Brilliant Inspiration (Not super useful here since you'll be buffing your friends, and you almost always share a language with them already.)
Denounce (Awesome for turning tribes or bandit groups against their leader, especially if they already don't like him too much. just a hop skip and a jump from "what a jerk" to "MURDERPISSKILL")
Enthrall (Pretty rad for sneaking into or pilfering populated areas. You give your team an hour of uninterrupted non-violent action.)
Geas and lesser Geas (Pretty self explanatory. If they speak a language, they listen to you.)
Hidden Speech (Not great in this case, but it's there.)
Message (People hear draconic whispers in their head. Might be useful from time to time, but as usual, you only really want to use this on people you can already speak to in Common.)
Mindlocked Messenger (Second verse, same as the first. Not useful to you.)
Suggestion, Mass Suggestion, Triggered Suggestion (These spells are all awesome. Perfect for screwing around with a fortified location if you can sneak in first. That guard killing the king example in the spell description will breed all kinds of paranoia.)
Unconsious Agenda (This is Triggered Suggestion's big brother, and he's a mean son of a b~~%+. This breeds paranoia like you would not believe. Sleeper cell agents set up months in advance, set to trigger on anything you can explain in 20 words. This is some Cold War spy movie stuff. So much stronger if you were Evil enough to abuse it, but it's still powerful for the forces of Good.)
Vengeful Outrage (This pairs well with anything that makes people hostile. get your enemies fighting each other, then buff one of them with +6 Strength and Constitution! Watch the blood fly.)