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I'd say we're due for a revival of the Roleplay Character Creation Advice thread. But the last time I tried to revive it a couple of months ago, nobody answered. So I thought maybe a new thread with less reading to get to the current posts would catch on better.
Here's the original idea behind that thread:
Ever get ready to start a game and you have some idea of the sort of character you want to play, but can't quite figure out a good backstory? Or how to fill in and round out their personality? Or what class or archetype would best represent the flavour you're trying to capture?
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This is not a crunch thread. There are hundreds of threads on the messageboards about various ways to optimize various characters and builds. Of course, one can't remove the mechanics entirely from the character creation process, but try to keep this stuff to a minimum and pertaining to the fluff or roleplay aspects of the character.
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So I'll start with the post from October at the end of the other thread that nobody ever answered:
I need some back story suggestions for a Pathfinder Society character. I played him twice so far, but haven't really nailed down his back story yet.
Based on what I want mechanically, I made an elf with dumped charisma, and a strong focus on his elven heritage. I'm thinking he embodies the stereotype of the snobby elf who looks down on other races. I put him in Sovereign Court, just for variety, so making him a minor noble of his homeland would work well.
The elven nation of Kyonin is a monarchy, but I don't have Elves of Golarion, and Inner Sea World Guide doesn't talk about any other nobility. Is there a minor noble class? If not, what other nation would be more appropriate to be his homeland?
Also, it's a fairly isolationist nation (which goes well with this guy's Elven superiority complex), so what would cause him to leave home and join the Pathfinder Society, while still remaining loyal to his homeland and people? Maybe an assignment from his elders to go out and see the world? A quest to find something in particular, and just using the Society as a source of funding for his travels?
Suggestions?
I can't help on the elven nobility aspect, but maybe I could have a suggestion on the reason for joining the society.
This snobbish elf could perhaps see the society as an opportunity to reclaim lost elven artifacts or knowledge, and wants to make sure it gets back to kyonin where it belongs and not in some rich human's manor.
Also just so I understand, whats his intended class? It could lead to other reasons.
Dotting.
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My elven character is a wizard (transmuter), in the Core campaign, so Core Rulebook options only. At low levels, he actually pretends to be an archer, using the elven longbow proficiency and dex bonus, along with the 1st level transmuter power. Once he has more spells per day, he'll ditch the bow and stick to spellcasting, but he'll have Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot to help with his ranged touch spells.
Reclaiming lost elven relics could be a possible reason to be in the Society. He's true neutral, caring more about his own country and elvish heritage than helping others in general, but making sure lost elven relics don't fall into the hands of world destroying madmen could be a good motivation.
If anyone has any other PCs they want help with, jump on in and post them. I already have plans to ask for help with a second one, but I need to organize my thoughts first.
Transmuter fits with the snobby elf idea, using magic to perfect his already superior features. How could lesser creatures even stand a chance?
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Yeah, and it works with the archery theme at low levels, too. I dumped charisma to boost his other stats, but I actually didn't dump strength like a typical wizard. I started him with 11 strength, use the 1st level transmuter power to boost it to 12, and got him a composite longbow with +1 strength rating after his first adventure.
Because it's for PFS, I'm playing with different people every time who don't know the character. So I introduce him as an elven archer and just don't mention he's a wizard. When I start casting half way through the adventure, people are surprised. :)
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So this one's more of a hypothetical than about a specific PC. In Pathfinder Society, you can't play an evil PC, but you can play a neutral worshiper of an evil deity. Asmodeus is the most popular for that, by a long shot, usually in the form of his priests from Cheliax being in the Society.
What are some reasons why worshipers of other evil gods might join the Society?
I'm thinking Norgberger's the easiest to come up with a reason to join, but probably the hardest to actually play. As the god of secrets, his priests would want to know the Society's secrets, and help the Society learn new secrets, as long as he was in on it. But he'd have to do it while hiding his true religion. Playing a cleric of him pretending to worship a different god could be interesting.
Why would a worshiper of Lamashtu, Urgathoa, Rovagug, or some of the non-Core evil deities join the Society?
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This thread just doesn't seem to want to catch on this time around, does it? Well, trying again, anyway.
So I needed a new level 1 PC for a "level 1 only" PFS event, and my last post in this thread got me thinking about a spy who worships Norgorber. I ended up making him an inquisitor with the infiltrator archetype. With a masterwork tool (very fancy silver holy symbol of Pharasma), he has a +14 bluff at level 1 to lie about worshiping Pharasma instead of Norgorber.
Click my name to see the full back story. I think this one worked out pretty well, and should be fun to play.
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But enough about that last PC. As for my reason for reviving this thread at this time: I want to make another PC and could use some suggestions.
I play Pathfinder Society a lot, and I like keeping at least one PC at level 1 in the bull pen, in case someone wants to run the replayable level 1 adventures. Now that I made Julian and ran him through two of those adventures, I need another new level 1 PC to keep in reserve.
I've been wanting to try out an unchained rogue for a while, just to make a pure dex based melee guy. But that's really all I know. I have no idea what race, alignment, personality, mechanical details, etc to do for this new character.
I will say that I like doing variety in my characters, and the only PFS legal races I haven't played before are half-elf, tengu, kitsune, and wayang. So I'd lean towards one of those, just for variety. I might also consider an elf, since I only have one of those that I rarely play (he's for Core campaign, which isn't popular in my area). And I like halflings in general. And the bonus feat always makes humans a tempting choice. The fact that they all get dex bonuses makes those all pretty good mechanical choices for this type of build.
Speaking of variety, I have PCs in every PFS faction except Scarab Sages. So some sort of knowledge seeker, or character with ties to Osirion, might make sense if I wanted to go for that faction for variety. But I'm not sure if I necessarily want to go with that faction for this guy.
Any ideas?
If you didn't mind a tie-in character, a half-elf rogue could be the spurned child of your haughty wizard's tryst. I realize that's really specific, though.
I always have trouble thinking of PC stories in a vacuum. It helps me to have a campaign or mechanical hook, like "this Hell's Rebels character needs to care about Kintargo" or "my Occultist needs a good history or death related background for his starting implements." Rogues seem like such a blank slate compared to some classes and PFS ranges so many types of modules, it's hard for me to come up with something!
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Yeah, that's why I'm looking for advice. I know what class I want to do, but I have no other ideas. I need some sort of hook to make it a character, rather than just a collection of stats.
I can't imagine my snobby elf ever "settling" for a romance with a non-elf, so I don't think having him be the father of a new half-elf really works. Sibling maybe, but not father. But again, that still doesn't give me much to work with.
Looking at the races, I think I can narrow it down by looking at mechanical stuff. I'm reluctant to go with the small races (halfling, wayang), just because I probably want 30 ft speed on a melee guy, to get to the bad guys faster. And I'm reluctant to go elf or tengu, because the constitution penalty on a front liner could be bad. That makes kitsune and half-elf my top possibilities, unless I decide I really need an extra feat to make the build work, in which case I could just be boring and go human.
I think I'm leaning towards kitsune, because the bite attack would let me go "three weapon fighter", for lots of sneak attacks, with short swords or saps in both hands as my primary weapons that get dex added to damage at level 3. The +2 racial bonus to acrobatics doesn't suck, either. That's a skill I assume I'll use a lot, to get into position for flanks. If I'm focusing on combat, that's likely to be my best skill. But I might end up having a story reason to put higher priority on other skills, such as a pickpocket with high sleight of hand.
The possibility of specializing in non-lethal damage with saps could lead to a story reason for that choice. Maybe he's good aligned and doesn't want to kill anyone unless he has to. And that's about as far as I've gotten with that line of reasoning.
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Imbicatus, I'll keep that in mind next time I'm looking to make a dwarf PC, but that really isn't where I'm looking to go with this one.
So in trying to find something interesting to do with an unchained rogue, I've been looking at deities that might give me a plot hook. Here's what I found that might help a little:
Chaldira Zuzaristan is a halfling goddess with short sword as her favorite weapon, so I could be one of her worshipers as a halfling. Not a huge plot hook, but it's a possibility.
Yuelral is an elven deity obsessed with crystals, so a half-elf workshipper looking for gems in the Scarab Sages could work.
Milani is the goddess of liberation, always a good choice for a Liberty's Edge member.
Calistria is tied to elves, who usually focus on her trickery and revenge aspects, which could give me a starting point for something if I go half-elven.
And the oddest of the bunch, that got me thinking: Naderi, the goddess of forbidden romances that end in suicide. Whether I go with this one for my unchained rogue or not, this one has me wondering: Why would anyone worship her, unless they're about to kill themselves? Who are her worshipers? Why would one be an adventurer?
This is an interesting goddess that could lead to an interesting character concept, if anyone can come up with good answers to those questions. I'm thinking maybe someone who had a lover who killed him/herself because they couldn't be together, but why would that person choose to worship Naderi, yet choose not to join their lover in death? Maybe seeking revenge, and planning to kill him/herself after getting it?
There's a bit more nuance on Naderi in the Pathfinderwiki article, which would offer some other ideas!
What "kind" of Rogue do you want to go with? I was thinking about stereotypical personalities: rakish and charming, gruff morally neutral thief, those kind of things. An archetype (in the narrative sense) can be a good starting point.
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Thanks for that link. Now that I'm home with my books, I just checked Inner Sea Gods, and it says pretty much the same thing about Naderi. That one has potential as the basis for a plot hook and back story. This could be an emo follower of the deity who lost a lover and has considered suicide, or something like that.
As for what kind of rogue, that's part of my problem. I have no idea. I just know unchained rogues get Weapon Finesse for free, dex added to damage at level 3, and lots of dex based skills. So figured it would be cool to do a completely dex based melee type, but that's all I've got.
Worshiping Naderi could give me a back story. Her favored weapon is the dagger, so maybe I could go Knife Master archetype and do two weapon fighting with a pair of daggers. The River Rat trait for +1 damage with a dagger and +1 to swim would go well with that, and also works with the fact that drowning is part of Naderi's resume. Maybe my PC tried to commit suicide via drowning, and failed, due to being too good at instinctively swimming.
Ok, this is starting to come together as I think about it writing this, and look up rules for the mechanics as I go.
Now I'm leaning towards a female PC for this one, since I have a woman with a knife miniature that would be appropriate. And I'm back to leaning towards half-elf. This could lend itself to a good back story. Maybe she had an elven lover who broke up with her to marry an elf, either because his family didn't want him marrying a half breed, or just because he didn't want to marry someone with so much shorter of a life span. So she tried to drown herself and failed.
I was originally thinking the half-elven racial Skill Focus would go into acrobatics, to be better at positioning for flanks in melee, but the Water Child alternate racial trait would go well with the whole "unable to drown herself" thing. It's less optimized, but very flavorful. And that +4 to swim checks and ability to take 10 at any time will be very useful on those occasions when swimming matters, which does happen sometimes in Society games.
So after being dumped by her elven lover, trying to drown herself and failing, she left her homeland. I have to decide where that is. But she felt she was dead inside, and decided to help those who deserve it join her in being dead, becoming a lethal, knife wielding killer.
Her alignment will be true neutral, like her goddess, and she joined the Pathfinder Society for lack of any motivation to do anything else. I'm thinking Grand Lodge faction, due to lack of motivation. And I can play her as very emo and staring off into space a lot, seemingly not paying attention to what's going on.
Looking at other mechanical options, the Knife Master archetype gives up trap finding and trap sense (danger sense for unchained rogues), but there are other archetypes I could take that stack. Sanctified Rogue is flavorful for a religious PC, giving up uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge for saving throw bonuses and a daily augury after level 8. Since she feels she's already dead, she wouldn't be concerned with that defense, anyway. Or I could go with the Scout archetype to make her more deadly when moving, which stacks with Knife Master, but not Sanctified Rogue.
So should I name her Ophelia, or would that be too obvious?
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*casts Thread Necromancy*
So continuing my theme of creating way too many Pathfinder Society characters to actually be able to play them all, I have ideas for a couple more new ones that I really want to make. One of them is already created, and the other two, I've worked out most of the mechanical details, but just haven't written them down on character sheets.
My problem is that I know what I want to do mechanically, and I have a general idea for personalities for two of them, but I need help with naming them, back stories, why they joined the Society, alignments, personality for the one that really doesn't have one yet, etc.
I think I'll do a separate post for each of the three of them.
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New PC #1: Skivrik the ratfolk bomb throwing alchemist. I know I want him to be from Round Mountain in the Hao Jin Tapestry, but that's about it.
I have no ideas for alignment, personality, religion, reason for joining the Society, personality quirks, reasons for becoming an alchemist, reason for leaving home, etc. Any suggestions?
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New PC idea #2: Grippli Archery Ranger with the Poison Darter and Skirmisher archetypes.
Basically, those archetypes give up the favored enemies, companion animal, and spellcasting to get a pretty good poison, hunter tricks, and the ability to sneak attack with a blowgun (and only with a blowgun, unfortunately).
I plan to play him as a ranged debuffer: mostly a typical longbow archery ranger, but using the poison and hunter tricks to debuff things that I hit with my arrows. When I have time to sneak up on enemies, I might pull out the blowgun for sneak attacks, but that's not my primary focus.
I see this guy as a jungle hunter who doesn't really fit in with civilization. In other words, I actually want to play up that nature aspect of the ranger. According to Blood of the Beast, gripplis from the jungles of Valashmai tend to be more primitive, ruthless hunters than their counterparts from Garund. That's kind of how I see this guy - a ruthless little frog man, covered in war paint, hiding in the jungles ready to ambush foes with his ranged weapons.
So why would he leave his jungle to go join the Pathfinder Society? Who is he? What alignment? What does he want out of life? Those are the personality questions I haven't come up with good answers for.
Also, I need a good grippli name.
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New PC #3: Whip wielding half-orc warpriest of Zon-Kuthon.
He'll be focused on doing non-lethal damage and intimidating people (Enforcer feat, obviously). Obviously, this guy has to be lawful neutral to worship Zon-Kuthon in Society play.
For a personality, I was thinking something along the lines of being more crazy than evil. Like his god, he likes pain, but he's not quite as mean about it. Pain makes him feel alive. He likes proving how tough he is to be able to take it, and also dish it out. I like the idea of yelling at enemies when whipping them, "Did that feel good? CAN YOU TAKE MORE???" as my free action intimidation check when I do non-lethal damage.
But again, who is this guy, other than a nutcase who should be in a padded cell? Why did he join the Society? What faction would he be in? Where did he come from? Also, would he have to hide his religious affiliation in many countries?
And once again, I don't have a name. As a half-orc, I'm likely to give him a human sounding name that fits whatever part of the world he's from.