@Vizper Darkbrood: You should probably ask before you roll. D&D 3.5e used d4's for starting wealth, but Pathfinder uses d6's. The warlock has the same starting wealth as the barbarian or the bard, so roll 3d6 × 10 instead of 4d4 × 10 gp. The average actually increases from 100 gp to 105 gp, believe it or not.
As with ability scores, roll your starting wealth and take average if you don't like what you see. Remember that automatic bonus progression halves your wealth.
@SunstonePheonix: I also work weekends, so I know your pain. See you next week.
What do you people have against orphans lol
Did you guys decided anything about the feat taxes?
oops before I forget.
@Angelpalm: Orphaned characters often reek of clichés or laziness. Not that someone can't pull it off convincingly, but I've seen enough Lonewolf McEdgelords that I'm willing to skip such characters for others who could help flesh out the setting with their connections to NPCs. Besides, it fits idea of beginning in a hamlet better.
It looks like your rolled ability scores are 11, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 .
We haven't done anything about feat taxes yet. About half of you (Burnscar, Madcaster, and yourself) are inclined to support it. If others want it too, I'll revisit the concept.
Actually, come to think of it, I might revise my concept. This guy has been growing increasingly edgy the more I think on him.
@Burnscar: Et tu, Burnscar? Very well, but I have made my grievances known.
Lol I am dying at Lonewolf Mcedgelords.
I have character in another game that was orphaned.......but she was raised by two loving and nurturing assassins. They basically all use each other, with her being a tough girl type that gained their respect in order to learn the skills that would allow her to get revenge on the person that made her an orphan in the first place.
Dm made some crazy elves that go around slaughtering villages so I figured might as well incorporate something that wild into her backstory so she would have an actual reason to go on a potential suicide mission against the big bad.
Anyways I am all for fleshing out small parts of the game world, especially when it's something along the lines of a small village. It helps if the dm already has a good vision of the world and can express that to the players. Something they can all build upon.
Had a dm that basically had nothing to go off of(like a blurb that read like something off the back game case for a jrpg) and darn near wanted the players to create all the lore for them as they picked and choose what they wanted to use. Remember making a character and dude was like "I am not sure if I like that or not, can you revise it?" Of course I had nothing to go off of and was just basically feeding this person ideas and finally I came up with the most edgy crap I could think of and of course that person finally liked it. Terrible experience. Saw a bunch of salty players, and a few other players who are of the sort that are willing to lick boot heels in order to play a game online. Got quite a few of those on the weave.
Lol @burnscar, lets be orphan twins.
I'm pondering at what physical changes of a wyrmer are. At 4th level you slightly change your skin's hue to resemble chosen dragon emblem and get sharp teeth, claws or tail. But should your eyes turn into snake's if Draconic Senses dragon art, which gives low-light and darkvision, is chosen? I'm leaning towards yes. Now that would be interesting, since people are suspicious towards magic, and wyrmers have clear physical signs of it.
Had a dm that basically had nothing to go off of(like a blurb that read like something off the back game case for a jrpg) and darn near wanted the players to create all the lore for them as they picked and choose what they wanted to use.
I played with a gm that had absolutely nothing at the start. We just decided to play some short dungeoncrawl, with random-generated dungeons. After couple dungeons, the game developed its own cosmology with its own planes, gods, religions and stuff. And when I quit, it had a massive conspiracy of an ancient dwarves, planning to take over the desert using subtle manipulation, sorcery and assassination. And we were building a trade route between the desert and some islands through the portal in a three hundred years old university of arcane arts.
I guess it depends on the gm.
It is impossible to understand the motives of an individual without first understanding the foundation upon which they grew. Before I formally introduce my character, I wish to write a piece about his native people, the grippli, or as they refer to themselves in their native tongue, gr'sebi.
A quick note on the term gr'sebi: While the Grippli language is a matter of pride for the swamp dwelling race, it is notoriously throaty and difficult for the untrained ear to make out. Grippli, for the sake of trade relations, are all to happy to omit words from their language around other humanoids, and thus the term "gr'sebi" is vastly unknown in interracial circles.
Without further ado...
THE CULTURE OF THE GR'SEBI
Grippli culture varies wildly from tribe to tribe, however, one thing is common between them all: their connection with the land that fosters their way of life. From the weather to the plants to the animals around them, grippli try to derive meaning from everyday sights and occurrences in nature, going as far as to elect a leader based upon the individual's understanding of natural phenomena.
All grippli tribes are organized roughly the same way: a shaman acts as a leader, and those under him have different roles though are considered of equal status for all intents and purposes. Each shaman leader is to act as an interpreter between a tribe's animal spirit of choice and the people of the tribe.
Here's where the variance between tribes comes from. As grippli draw so much of their worldview from nature, tribes identify with an animal from their native land, and attempt to embody the essence of the animal as closely as possible. A tribe identifying with the trout, for example, would place emphasis on high energy, tight bonds between tribe members, alertness, and an affinity for swimming. A tribe identifying with the crocodile would encourage patience, stealth, the building of physical strength, and the mastery of physical combat.
BAOT-VOR: THE TRIBE OF THE TURTLE
The Baot-vor Gr'sebi, a grippli tribe that reveres the turtle, are somewhat unusual when compared to the average tribe. They tend to be somewhat aloof, in the sense that they emphasize personal growth and careful solo exploration instead of heavy bonding. This can sometimes be disadvantageous. The Baot-vor don't have the safety net of numbers. While they all return to their home often enough, individuals can never be counted on to be within the tribe's territory at a given time. The flip side of this is that Baot-vor are master solo survivalists and individually know more of the land than the average grippli. They travel farther out on scouting missions because they can take their time- no one expects them back at their home by a set date. The Baot-vor tribe has the most sturdy trade relations with general human society because its indivuals aren't afraid to travel to towns by themselves and trade their fish and meat for other goods. Their temperaments help quite a bit when dealing with human relations, as well. Baot-vor are generally very easygoing.
One tendency of the tribe, however, is that of its members deciding to set out on their own permanently. A good quarter of mature Baot-vor grippli build homes for themselves outside of tribal lands and bidding their colleagues farewell. This is in no way looked down upon, in fact quite the opposite. Those that leave are said to be the true embodiments of the turtle- strong and wise enough to take care of themselves, with the fortitude and independence to keep plodding forward one steady step at a time.
Grippli that have ventured out on their own will sometimes make a pilgrimage to visit the Baot-vor who are at their tribe's home at a given time, and are welcomed to share their stories with open arms. The young, growing grippli residing there eagerly await the presence of an old, battle-torn grippli returning to the tribe for even a single day, simply to impart wisdom on the youngsters before leaving once more.
Is the party here full? I have never tried E6/P6 but I do like playing at low levels. I wouldn't mind trying this game.
I have a few character concepts that could work here. I am not sure what the party has at the moment. Some of them were based heavily on Golarion lore, but could be convertible into something to do with
One concept I had was for a small Rogue with a Pharasma focus. He talked like a cleric of Pharasma but wasn't one. My original version was a Halfling who was a member of a Shoanti tribe. I played this character ("Morthak Bonerattle") in a campaign that died. I redid the character concept as a Svirfneblin for a darklands campaign but didn't get into that one. I could also do it up as a wayang if those are around. Obviously there would need to be a Barbarian tribe similar to the Shoanti and a deity similar to Pharasma for that to work.
The second concept would be for a Kobold Sorcerer with the draconic bloodline. Basically a fire blaster, maybe with a ray focus. Haven't fleshed this one out at all really but always wanted to play one.
The third concept was for a oracle of the wood mystery, possibly half-elven or maybe Azata-Blooded Aasimar. I tried generating this character once for another game with some weird chargen rules (as "Jan Carpenter") though the concept is pretty MAD that it is hard to do. But I'd be interested in trying it.
What do you think?
Peet
@Zayne Iwatani: Looking at cavalry in the Middle Ages, it seems that all knights were technically mounted men-at-arms, but not all mounted men-at-arms were knights — so your background checks out. Your family is likely one of the few that have a long, military history. If you are itching to fight, you're probably one of the few members that constitute what counts as the hamlet's town watch, which mostly means dealing with drunks and rowdy travelers, and sometimes investigating crimes or banditry. Is your grandfather still alive?
The life expectancy was better than I expected back then so yes. Since people seem to be cut off from the capital and banditry is a problem, I imagine they'll be dealing with more than drunks and travelers. But because of her families support the town is a little better off than most.
So what are the rest of the build rules? Who is in?
As this thread is labeled "interest check", it might be a good idea to create a separate one for official submissions. This thread didn't have an end date on it, so some people might not know that they could submit characters here.
Its not like the normal interest checks though as our ideas for characters is shaping the lore of the local area. So I don't know if that means we are in or just helping expand the world.
As far as I'm concerned, everyone who's posted this far is in. People who post from here on in will be put on a waiting list, in case someone would like to quit.
@SunstonePheonix: I'll be adopting the gr'sebi and the Baot-vor wholesale, and I especially appreciate how the Baot-vor have a predisposition towards adventure and wandering. I do have a few questions: Would you consider grippli physiology a requirement to speak their throaty language (such that a character can understand, but can't speak, Grippli unless with magical aid)? If no-one else is playing tengu, do we want to remove them from the lore?
@Madcaster: If the darkvision and low-light vision are constant, then yes, it would make you appear more draconic. I plan on expanding Goldenmeadow's role in our setting more (mostly on a wandering order of monks, missionaries, or wyrmers that preach their golden lord's values) so that you aren't completely out of place, but some folk are more superstitious than others.
@Peet: Those are interesting concepts, though I would have to put in more work to accomodate a heavily-Golarian character in this world. Whittle down your list to the character that you'd like to play the most. The kobold sorcerer might be interesting since some parts of our setting are tied to dragons and we most likely have another dragon-themed character in this party, but I intend for most kobolds to be enemies. The world is currently humans, half-human races like tiefling, and grippli, but if you wanted to play a half-elven character we'd add elves to this list.
Here are the character creation rules, fleshed out. Once we have our starting cast of characters and their finalized sheets, we'll move to actual Gameplay and Discussion threads.
Ability Scores: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest result six times, then assign them to your abilities. You may then opt to use the purchase method for High Fantasy (20 points).
Hit Points: Maximum value at 1st level, half at every level thereafter (3.5 for d6, 4.5 for d8, 5.5 for d10, 6.5 for d12).
Races: Our setting is predominantly human. Grippli (or gr'sebi; see SunstonePheonix's post) and half-human races (such as tiefling) are also acceptable. For other races, talk to me first.
Character Options: Any, including 3rd party content — but talk to me first, especially for something that introduces a new subsystem, like Tome of Battle or psionics.
Traits: Any one, except campaign traits or Golarion-specific traits.
Starting Wealth: Roll according to class. You may then opt to use the average value. Remember that automatic bonus progression halves your wealth.
I'm glad you like it!
I'd love to keep tengu relations in there if someone wants to play a tengu, but yeah, we can ditch that part of the lore if no one expresses interest.
As for physiological requirements, I don't want to restrict someone from learning a language if they wish to. In game, the throatiness probably makes it a difficult language to learn, but nothing that a skilled linguist couldn't learn to imitate. A member of another race can't speak Grippli exactly like a grippli can, but they can mimic the sounds closely enough that interracial communications is possible. The difficulty of the language, however, means that it isn't standard human fare.
I'm also thinking that Grippli doesn't contain a standard method of written communications. "Writing" is displayed in pictographs that vary from region to region, though are detailed enough that even a non-Grippli speaker could figure out what they mean. ie: An account of a battle would literally be depicted as many figures holding weapons and bodies scattered on the ground, possibly accompanied by a sketchy map of the location it took place in and a drawing of a great hero or villain.
Grippli tribes keep history alive through oral tradition anyway, so the need to have a written language isn't as pressing as it is in many cultures.
There's a trait called Addict that I was wondering if I could reskin. The trait itself gives you +1 to bluff, sense motive, and knowledge local, as well as making one of them a class skill, but comes at the cost of half of your starting gold. I'd only start with 35 gold, in this case.
With that said, I feel like the bonuses fit Kvoak but the flavor doesn't. Kvoak himself seems like he's traded with human settlements for quite a while, thus knowing the local area as well as knowing how to barter (sense motive and bluff). With him being a grippli, however, he lives in large part off the land and doesn't have much need for gold in the first place. He trades only to obtain basic gear. Maybe I could call it "Simple Lifestyle" or something of the sort?
@Burnscar: I'm not as familiar with Path of War content as I should be, but that's a yes. I'll work each discipline into the setting; from what I've seen in Tome of Battle, maneuver-based classes tend to be more versatile or interesting than normal martial classes, so I'd recommend other people at least look at Path of War stuff. I can borrow my friend's copy of Path of War Expanded and give you guys archetypes for normal martial classes. I'll be keeping an eye on Deadly Agility and other rules hiccups.
I look forward to reading about aven and their monasteries from you.
@SunstonePheonix: Grippli in our world not having a standard written language and using pictographs instead makes a lot of sense to me. I've looked through Pathfinder traits and I couldn't find one that affects Knowledge (local) and Sense Motive. If Bluff is important to you and you don't mind losing some wealth, you can reskin Addict; or, you could take the following:
Baot-Vor Trader
On your quest to find yourself, you've made ends meet by bartering between human villages on the outskirts of the Wyrwood. Your experiences there have granted you insight into local rumors or happenings, and when someone is offering you an unfair deal. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (local) and Sense Motive checks, and one of those skills is always a class skill for you.
One less skill, but no downside. I think it's a fair trade, but it's still up to you.
I quite like the idea of rustic grippli and monastic aven working together.
@Peet: Those are interesting concepts, though I would have to put in more work to accomodate a heavily-Golarian character in this world. Whittle down your list to the character that you'd like to play the most.
Hmmm...
...16
...11
...13
.....04
...13
...10
This would be what... a 10-point buy? Yeah, I think a 20-Point Buy is the way to go here... :)
So... narrowing things down...
I could re-do the halfling rogue as a Grippli. If there was a tribe that was specifically charged with guarding the sacred burial mounds of the Grippli (and therefore would have the same philosophy about protecting the dead and fighting the undead that a Pharasmin would) then that would work well. A significant part of the build is the Deific Obedience feat for Pharasma which would be taken at 3rd level. Obviously the higher level SLA abilities would never come up if we only ever get to 6th level. If you don't want to allow that feat then I would need to re-think this character.
The kobold sorcerer is tough to do, because they are a weak race overall and don't get a CHA bonus. But I was thinking about a golden-scaled kobold (there is a race trait for that). Would you allow a Middle-Aged character? And how would you feel about a fire version of ray of frost as a custom spell?
We can forget about the half-elf oracle. I am submitting that idea in a different campaign.
So, it's time to do mechanics.
*10=130
Average is 140.
Remember that automatic bonus progression halves your wealth.
WBL, not starting, right?
I wouldn't mind some info on any mounted path of war classes or archetypes. I saw a couple classes from the expanded book and it looks like they went a little over the top with some of them.
@Madcaster: Automatic bonus progression "decreases character wealth by level to half the normal amount," and on Table: Character Wealth by Level, it notes "For 1st-level PCs, see Table: Starting Character Wealth." If everyone thinks my reading of this was too harsh, then everyone should get full starting wealth.
@Peet: For your grippli concept, I can seed in a Skoan-Quah-esque tribe of grippli. My largest concern is that Deific Obedience for you pretty much reads, "Benefit: Gain Weapon Focus (dagger) and Greater Weapon Focus (dagger). This also stacks with Weapon Focus (dagger)." Which would be fine, except as an unchained rogue or with the Path of War Deadly Agility feat, you also get Dexterity to damage at 3rd level — which is a significant jump in your character's damage output. I am slightly wary of this.
You can be a golden-scaled kobold without taking the trait. This world isn't particularly predisposed to favour golden dragons anyways, so take some other trait you'd like. As for being middle-aged, keep in mind that you're a villager or someone who fills a different non-adventuring role at the start of this campaign. Currently, I think we have:
- Kvoak, a grippli fisher
- Geoffrey, whose parents are healers called upon by the hamlet and neighboring farms,
- Vizper, whose demonic heritage is beginning to manifest,
- A daughter of a famous veteran, who is one of the few full-time members of the village watch,
- An aven who traveled to this hamlet from their monastery home for reasons Burnscar will explain.
@Madcaster: Automatic bonus progression "decreases character wealth by level to half the normal amount," and on Table: Character Wealth by Level, it notes "For 1st-level PCs, see Table: Starting Character Wealth." If everyone thinks my reading of this was too harsh, then everyone should get full starting wealth.
I'm just checking. So, half starting wealth, got it.
Also, I'm taking 20 point buy. I don't really like having 3 odd stats.
well. Lucky me. That's 270 starting gold. Maybe I should make her the only child or just the oldest of many females. Constantly fighting with her cousins.
It seems I'm a little late, but would there still be room? From what you wrote, I think that this would put leave on the waiting list.
I was thinking of restatting a suli medium, I could also re-race it if being an outsider is a problem.
Starting Wealth: Roll according to class. You may then opt to use the average value. Remember that automatic bonus progression halves your wealth.
Or not. Missed this part. That hurts a little. Was hoping to keep the barding. So that's 135. I personally don't like ABP but I can live with it. Only problem is that there is a mechanical issue that needs to be addressed eventually. Animal companions are not accounted for in the ABP system. I had intended to split the wealth a little to outfit my horse with enchanted items later but they are not available.
A lot of strange racial choices in this sleepy hamlet lol. I guess I have to play some kinda weird creature just to fit in?
Angel, in response to this, humans are still supposed to be the dominant race. Grippli were a race that we inserted into the environment to give people another choice. If you wanted to play a human, please do so. It would be an advantage to have humans in this party.
@Zayne: I've seen automatic bonus progression altered for companions in two ways. One is to give your companion automatic bonus progression as if it were a player character of X levels lower . The other is to for you to decide whether you want the bonus at any given level to apply to you or your companion.
I've always thought automatic bonus progression was a good thing, especially for P6, since it gives you a cloak of resistance +1, ring of deflection, a +1 enhancement bonus to any one weapon and suit of armor you have, and a +2 belt or headband of your choice for 8,000 gp, and makes magical arms and armor cheaper by no longer requiring a +1 enhancement bonus before enchantments, and frees up your item slots. I'm surprised that people don't like this trade-off, but I'd like to stick to my guns unless it's a dealbreaker.
The decision on how automatic bonus progression affects companions might be important for you too, @SunstonePheonix.
You get Mounted Combat as a bonus feat at 1st level and a mount. You recover an expended maneuver whenever you negate an attack using Mounted Combat. Your mount can fulfill the movement component of your maneuvers. At 5th level, you learn a formation. As long as you and your allies are within 5 to 15 feet of each other (depends on the formation), you grant a benefit to everyone participating in the formation.
There's also a new discipline called Piercing Thunder. If this interests you, I can type out the full version.
@Afla: I'm playing in a solo campaign exploring a desert world with a medium character, and it's a blast. Spirits are a really cool way of adding more legendary and historical figures into this world. The biggest problem is the suli race, unfortunately. I'd rather not introduce genie to this game to stay consistent with the theme of the setting and other people's character concepts.
First of all, I'm definetly taking the trait you provided. I love it.
As for the player progression, I'd be keeping it on Kvoak. Companions are companions. They should have some survivability, but I don't think I want my turtle being on center stage more than my actual PC.
Oh! One other question! I went back and looked at snapping turtle companions to see that they advanced at level seven. Should this be lowered to level six, or should it be a part of post-leveling material?
Edit: Rollin' for gold.
...So, I could stick with this roll, and halve it to 35, or take the average, and halve it to 35.
It's a really tough decision here.
If the race is the only problem, I could rewrite it as a human.
So, here's the wyrmer. I took the Breathwright archetype, trading some stuff for more breath weapon options.
I found this on the Hussar. If that is the correct archetype then all I need is the Piercing Thunder maneuvers to 3rd level. That should be all I get. A mounted Warlord sounds like it would be a lot more fun and a lot more versatile.
I'm still fiddling with the two character concepts, but...
Currently, I think we have:
- Kvoak, a grippli fisher
- Geoffrey, whose parents are healers called upon by the hamlet and neighboring farms,
- Vizper, whose demonic heritage is beginning to manifest,
- A daughter of a famous veteran, who is one of the few full-time members of the village watch,
- An aven who traveled to this hamlet from their monastery home for reasons Burnscar will explain.
Use this to inform the scale of your character's background, and why a kobold is in this hamlet. Maybe kobolds just age faster.
Hmm...
A blaster sorcerer might be redundant when we can have the wyrmer just use his breath weapon every round. And it looks like we also have a Warlock and a Psychic? Probably don't need another arcane caster.
BTW, what is an "Aven?"
-----
So yeah, I suppose I can give up on the sorcerer idea for now.
Re: Grippli Rogue
@Peet: My largest concern is that...
I understand that a +2 to hit is a significant bonus. The feat is what inspired the character idea; when I saw it I started to think about what sort of character would work with it. So it seemed like it would work well with the Knife Master Rogue.
The main complaint that I read about Rogues is that they have too few ways to improve their chance to hit. As a relatively squishy character I envision fighting defensively a lot, and also will be using TWF often. These penalize my chance to hit significantly. At 3rd level, with DEX 18, even with Weapon Focus and Deific Obedience, when Fighting Defensively and using TWF I have a +4 to hit. Also, at our maximum level, Automatic Bonus Progression will never allow me to have an enhancement bonus on my off-hand weapon.
as an unchained rogue or with the Path of War Deadly Agility feat, you also get Dexterity to damage
I don't know anything about Path of War as I don't normally use 3pp stuff. I have too many sources to research already.
But yes, the unchained rogue's DEX-to-damage is a significant boost. But it still doesn't really add that much.
Consider: with this build you are using daggers all the time. A small dagger does 1d3 damage. So with 18 DEX I get 1d3+4 with my primary hand and 1d3+2 with my off-hand; so 2d3+6 or 10 average with a full attack. Meanwhile the Fighter with Power Attack swings his greatsword and does 2d6+9 damage at 1st level. At 4th this goes to 2d6+12. And he will get a second iterative attack at 6th; I never will (because it doesn't come until 8th level for rogues).
In the end, Sneak Attack still provides the main source of damage for rogues.
I believe the balancing factor here was the fact that the feat only works with daggers. The Torag Obedience works with warhammers but only gives +1. The low base damage of daggers means a bonus to hit has less overall effect.
You're the GM; go ahead and rule one way or another. But I personally don't think it will break the game, and I've presented my reasoning for thinking this.
I'm starting to work on some fluff now.
Some fluff about the grave guardians of the Grippli:
HR'OP-SHTA: THE TRIBE OF THE GHOST SPIDER
The Clan takes it's name from the Hr'op-Shta, or Ghost Spider, a small whitish spider that preys on ordinary insects, and is common in the Grippli swamps. In the Ghost Spider the Grippli see the virtues of silence, patience, vigilance, hard work (in building webs), and respect for the dead (since the ghost spider wraps its dead prey in "burial shrouds" of webbing).
The Grippli believe that upon death their souls journey down a great river (the "River of Spirits"), where they must face a variety of trials until they come before the "Great Mother." The Great Mother takes all the spirits of the people, and separates the rhapshta, or "living spirit" (the force which animates the physical body) from the shulshta, or "feeling spirit" (which comprises the mind and personality of the deceased). She returns the rhapstai to the land of the living, where they become part of the next generation of Grippli, providing the animating spark to infants as they are born. The shulstai she judges according to the lives they lived, and sends each one to their just reward in the afterlife.
The journey down the River of Spirits is said to be fraught with danger, and since the successful completion of this journey is not only necessary for the soul to achieve rest, but also for spirits to be granted to the next generation of Grippli children, the Grippli take pains to conduct proper burial ceremonies. When done right, these ceremonies are said to prepare the spirit for the journey down the River of Spirits, guaranteeing its arrival at the Great Mother. These preparations include anointing the body and wrapping it in a shroud. Then the body is placed in a funeral boat which takes it to the Isle of the Mists in the heart of the Grippli Swamp, where the sacred burial grounds of the Grippli lie. The Funeral Boat is largely an ordinary sampan, but has lamps which burn oil spiced with pungent herbs whose scent protects the body against both evil spirits and scavenging beasts.
Since the grippli believe that the body must be properly laid to rest for the spirit to move on, they have a particular fear and hatred for the undead. This is particularly the case with the Hr'op-Shta Clan, whose duty lies in protecting the sanctity of graves. They consider themselves at war with all undead and those that create them.
The funeral boats and the Isle of Mists are the territory of the Hr'op-Shta Clan. Their duty is to protect the burial grounds and ensure the bodies of the dead are able to reach it. Like other Grippli clans, they survive mostly through fishing, hunting, and gathering, and most members of the Hr'op-Shta Clan are proficient in such things. But when required they do whatever is deemed necessary to protect their sacred charge.
The Hr'op-Shta Clan is divided into three groups.
* The core of the clan are the islanders. The islanders inhabit the Isle of Mists and the swamps nearby. They live off these lands but they all train in arms in case they need to to defend the Isle of Mists against an enemy. The permit no outsiders to set foot on the island, and even most of the islanders do not know the route to the heart of the island where the burial grounds lie; only the priests are allowed to know the way. It is rare for a Grippli to be given permission to visit the burial grounds and usually only a chief is ever granted this permission, and even he must be blindfolded when taken there.
* The second group are the rivermen. The rivermen live aboard the numerous sampans that ply the Grippli Swamps (though what constitutes a "river" to the grippli of the swamps differs widely from the standard definition - a "river" to the swamp dwellers is simply a water route through the swamp that is relatively free of hazards). They collect the bodies of dead grippli after they have been prepared by the local shaman for burial, and transport these bodies back to the Isle of Mists. When not transporting the dead, however, they are permitted to use the funeral boats a for trade, and the network of rivermen provide a reliable, if slow, trade network. They also carry messages from one village to another, and therefore also act as a primitive postal network. Though the rivermen are not sworn warriors like the islanders, the trips through the swamp can be dangerous and the rivermen must be tough to survive and to protect their boats and cargo.
* The third group are the retrievers. The retrievers are small in number; when grippli come of age a few are chosen from the islanders and the rivermen to become retrievers, and when they are old enough these grippli are permitted to "retire" and return to their homelands. The retrievers leave the lands of the clan and travel alone. They wander through grippli territory and beyond, following the trails of the grippli who may have died outside their ancestral lands, or in places where their bodies might not normally be found. It is the duty of the retrievers to find the dead grippli who have not had a proper burial, and return their remains to grippli lands. The grippli believe that it is "better late than never" and that if they can return such a grippli's remains to be buried then the soul still has a chance. More than the other two groups, the retrievers seek out and destroy undead when they get the chance, on the basis that necromancy is a kind of disease and it is better to prevent the disease by striking at its source. Since they the retrievers venture outside the traditional grippli lands they are a major source of news and goods from the outside world.
...
How do you feel about Background Skills?
If everyone needs to have a "day job" at the beginning they can be useful for that.
@SunstonePheonix: Greater Bond is an epic feat in P6 that does what you're looking for, so advancing your snapping turtle companion will be post-advancement.
@Afla: Then I look forward to reading more about your character!
@Madcaster: It looks like your Will save was calculated as if your Wisdom was 8. The breathwright archetype replaces the more obvious signs of draconic lineage (natural weapons and scales). Receiving serpentine eyes from your lesser draconic senses seems flavorful, but otherwise feel free to look as human or draconic as you like.
How would you justify the Deft Dodger trait in terms of background? Would you mind if I took narrative control over your character's parents, and fleshed them out?
@Peet: Aven are tengu reflavored. In terms of the Deific Obedience feat, you've proven that my gut instinct was mistaken; I have no reason to think that this will break the game before even beginning gameplay. I think your write-up of the Hr'op-Shta would add a lot of insight into grippli culture, rites, and attitudes toward death (i.e. that all grippli seek to be buried in the Isle of Mists and that I can use undead grippli as enemies). You should still probably talk to SunstonePheonix. They're the other grippli player in this game, so you two should iron out any discrepancies and establish lore that works for both of your characters. For instance, in keeping with SunstonePheonix's previous naming scheme, the Tribe of the Ghost Spider would be translated to Hr'op-Shta-vor or Baot-hr'op-shta in Grippli.
If everyone is interested in using the background skills system, we'll implement it.
@Zayne Iwatani: Most of it's correct. The following class feature has been updated in Path of War Expanded:
Mounted Maneuver Expertise (Ex): Starting at 1st level, a hussar and his trusty steed are so in tune with each other that they can work as one when performing maneuvers. Whenever a hussar is mounted and uses a maneuver with a movement component (such as making a charge attack, or taking an extra move action), the hussar can have his mount take the appropriate movement in his place. If the maneuver allows the hussar to make a charge attack, both him and his mount are considered to be charging. This replaces the share spells ability that normal animal companions gain.
I don't know what the best way to send the Piercing Thunder maneuvers would be. Pick a way (email or Google Docs is my preferred options), and I'll send the maneuvers to you.
Can you PM me a google docs link? If that doesn't work I'll PM you my email.
@Kenneth Kim:
Oops. Fixed Will save.
I think, some scales here and there would be nice to represent some draconic heritage. And serpentine eyes too, of course.
Deft Dodger - as Geoffrey's family travels between farms, they have to be able to protect themselves. And sure, there are full-time guards, but they sometimes have to partake in defense of the village. As other villagers, I think.
As for the parents - sure, no problem.
In that case, I'll roll for stats and put up a backstory in a bit.
13
13
10
10
15
11
... going with point-buy
x10
Here is the character as a cavalier in case Hussar doesn't work out.
Here is the character.
Human medium 1
CN medium human
Init +1; Senses Perception +3
Defense
AC 16, Touch 11, F-F 15 (+5 armor, +1 Dex)
HP 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1 (includes spirit bonus)
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Melee elven curve blade +6 1d10+8 (includes spirit bonus)
spear +6 1d8+8 (includes spirit bonus)
Ranged javelin +3 1d6+6 (includes spirit bonus)
Spells known (CL 1st, concentration +3)
SQ hypnotism 1/day (Diplomacy), read aura (Perception)
Statistics
Str 18 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 8 Cha 14
Base Atk +0; CMB ; CMD
Feats Spirit Focus (Champion), ?
Traits ?
Skills Bluff +6, Diplomacy +6, Knowledge (arcana) +2, Perception +3, Sense Motive +3 (includes spirit bonus)
Languages Common
Combat Gear elven curve blade, spear, javelin x5, scale mail, 13 gp
Special Abilities
Spirit Bonus (Su): When a medium channels a spirit, he gains a bonus on certain checks and to certain statistics, depending on the spirit. A 1st-level medium's spirit bonus is +1; it increases by 1 at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter.
Spirit Surge (Su): After failing a d20 roll that was modified by his spirit bonus, a medium can allow his spirit to gain 1 additional point of influence over him in order to add 1d6 to the check's result without taking an action. This can cause the check to succeed instead of fail. The medium must be conscious and aware to use this ability, and he can use this ability at most once per round. At 10th level, the medium's spirit surge die increases to 1d8, and at 20th level it increases to 1d10.
Champion
Spirit Bonus: When you channel a champion, your spirit bonus applies on attack rolls, non-spell damage rolls, Strength checks, Strength-based skill checks, and Fortitude saves.
Seance Boon: You gain a +2 bonus on all non-spell damage rolls.
Favored Locations: Arenas, battlefields, places of violence, practice yards.
Influence Penalty: You are quick to violence and prefer a weapon to spells or contemplation. You take a penalty equal to your spirit bonus on Intelligence checks and Intelligence-based skill checks, and to your caster level (to a minimum of caster level 0); as usual, a reduced caster level may render you unable to cast spells. You can't benefit from effects that increase your caster level.
Taboos: Choose one: you are superstitious about arcane spellcasting, so you must not be the willing target of arcane spells or abilities and you must attempt a Will saving throw against even harmless arcane spells and abilities; you may not make an attack with any weapon except a specific manufactured weapon (such as "my father's +2 falchion") that you choose when you take the taboo, and you may not choose unarmed strike for this taboo; you must accept any challenge to prove your prowess in battle, including challenges to single combat—if you or an ally breaks the rules of the challenge, you break this taboo.
Champion's Prowess (Lesser, Su): You gain proficiency in all martial weapons and in one exotic weapon of your choice, which you choose each time you channel a champion spirit.
Are signature feats for level 6+? I didn't see any information about them.
Afla has gotten himself involved with spirits since youth. These spirits have driven him to do all kinds of things, depending on their inclination. Sometimes they exert a little influence, and sometimes they exert a lot, or way too much.
Afla's natural memory difficulties are exacerbated by his spirit summoning. He doesn't mind the memory losses, but he has a hard time remembering just about anything.
As usual for him, this adventure will probably start him with no idea how he got to where he is.
I have made some major changes to the backstory. Darker but not batman dark. Only one male returned from the last war, one in which Lord Greenfast lost many men thanks to a tactical error on the part of one of his generals. Her father,James Hawthorn, is the only to return and he is too wounded to fight ever again (maybe lost a leg). He was also unlucky enough to sire only daughters so now the family is mostly women and children. Lucatiel is the oldest of his daughters and steps forward to learn how to fight and defend their family and home. She'd been learning a little from her cousins but not directly from one of the older generation. Her father sees little choice. He's too crippled to fight and the only men left are children.
She learns quickly, after the almost failed attempt in the backstory, that heavy armor and lance are not suitable for her. She just isn't strong enough. So I think I will switch to a more dex-based character. Switch con and chr and switch dex and strength. Take the warlord version of the Hussar. Phalanx Lancer means I can use a shortspear as a light weapon, so I can use weapon finesse, and adds some damage to make up for the str switch. On the horse she will use Ride-by-attack to avoid the enemy and lead them around. Off the horse she can use Iron Tortoise to be tanky and annoying.
Light cavalry instead of heavy cavalry. And if Deadly Agility is available I can pick that up at level 3. I hate to handicap the character but this seems like a lot more fun and appropriate.
@Peet
I originally intended for grippli tribes to be largely independent, but I think the idea of unity in death is a wonderful concept. While some grippli tribes in other areas of the world would have their own death rituals, I do like the idea that the various swamp tribes all take their dead to one place to join in the afterlife together. When you bring it up, it makes a lot of sense. In nature, all things end up in the same place: decomposing in the soil, nutrients to be soaked up into another organism.
If we can keep the understanding that in life, various tribes stay separate, however, that would be much appreciated. I feel like the different ideologies would cause quite a bit of conflict between some tribes, and no tribe wants more death upon their hands.
Oh, if you want to keep the name schemes consistent, Vor means tribe. Baot means turtle.
I just wanted to let you know how much I love your lore! The thought put into it is amazing.
@GM
I don't mind some more skill points. :D
@Peet....
Hr'op-Shtavor then!
I see no reason why our ideas about the Grippli would be incompatible.
Not knowing the geography, I had assumed a large swampy Grippli "Homeland," with a number of tribes living there. There may well be "civilized" Grippli living among humans or elsewhere, but I envisioned a primitive homeland. The tribes need not be connected politically and there need not be any cooperation between them; they can fight occasionally and disagree generally.
The Hr'op-Shtavor would by necessity be considered neutral in such inter-tribal conflicts, and as such make ideal messengers and traders among the Grippli. However, the Hr'op-Shtavor cannot expect to ever gain more territory; their permanent claims may only encompass the area around the Isle of Mists. If the Hr'op-Shtavor ever get too large, a separate branch would have to break off and form a new tribe, and the new tribe would not be subject the the same neutrality.
I had envisioned that the "rivermen" had originally been a small minority of the tribe, but since the area around the Isle of Mists can only support so many Grippli, excess population growth has been channeled to the rivermen, resulting in them becoming nearly equal in population to the islanders.
More remote tribes might make do with local burial sites but would consider burial at the Isle of Mists to confer higher status.
Anyway...
The basis of the lore had to accomplish certain things:
* Justification for a Pharasmin/Skoan-Quah-like philosophy and role
* Justification for tribe members travelling and potentially adventuring