Aardvark's "Nothing Venture Captained, Nothing Gained" Shattered Star Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Troy Malovich

I guess I'm not really seeing a rules-based problem here. The worship of Desna only really gives him proficiency with the starknife. Other than that, it's just an eclectic choice for one of his two domains. I'm making an eclectic choice to make playing the character memorable and fun.

He's sill going to spend his time casting buffs and cures and soaking off the boring magic items, just like any other cleric. It'll just be with a slightly different flavor and back story.
But, GMs are the arbiters of domain choices, so make a call Aardvark. I don't want to change it, but I will if you want me too.

As for the campaign or society traits, it really doesn't matter to me at all. I picked focused mind for the rules impact, but I don't care about the second one. I was just trying to find something that matched the background as I had written it. But I can change the end of the story to incorporate something else. I'm happy for someone else to suggest one for me if it'll tie our PCs together. Maybe I joined a similar faction, because [insert reason].

What a nice dancing brother, maybe your theme song can be dancing queen from Abba :)

Poof! Faedrin enters the thread, completed (again) and done with archetype changes (probably).

Have we heard from FuriaRiot lately? Do we know if he's still on board with joining us in this grand escapade?

----

Ubertripp, do any of these traits strike your fancy?

A Sure Thing: Once per day, you gain a +2 bonus on a single attack roll against an evil-aligned creature. If the creature is not evil-aligned, this ability is wasted with no benefit.

Beneficent Touch: Once per day, when you cast a spell or use a class ability that heals hit point damage, reroll any 1s that appear on the dice and take the new roll (even if it is another 1).

Comparative Religion: Your allies within the Silver Crusade have taught you a lot about other faiths. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks, and Knowledge (religion) becomes a class skill for you.

Force for Good: Your good-aligned spells are especially powerful, and they function at +1 caster level. This trait makes your aura more powerful (one step higher), as outlined in the detect evil spell. (I thought this one could fit with your backstory particularly well, flavored as Desna's touch in your life.)

Unorthodox Strategy: You are particularly quick on your feet, and gain a +2 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks made to move through an enemy’s threatened squares.

These traits are all from the Silver Crusade's faction, and I think Aard was on to something with how that faction could dovetail into your backstory (which, by the way, I thought was exceptionally well written. Awesome job with that!). As far as the madness domain vs worshiping Desna is concerned, would a more polytheistic approach to Tanj fit your idea? Maybe he personally doesn't venerate her, or he started to but those whacky visions made him realize Desna wasn't the only goddess on the block. Could Tanj just call out to whatever deity seemed appropriate at the time?

Is that an idea worth pursuing? Dunno - just trying to throw stuff out there.

What a nice dancing brother, maybe your theme song can be dancing queen from Abba :)

Ha! Nah, you're the queen =P If anything, his song would be Can't Touch This =P

Elrawien Lantherion wrote:

What a nice dancing brother, maybe your theme song can be dancing queen from Abba :)

Ha! Nah, you're the queen =P If anything, his song would be Can't Touch This =P

[singing]

Uber, I agree with Faedrin (Dal) that the Force for Good looks like a pretty decent one for you.

As for deities, since it says they can pick any two IF they don't have a deity. I have no problem with the two domains together, or even the Desna/Lamashtu influence. The only thing was that the focus on Desna was a little too much to be considered as not having a deity.

Since he was from Sandpoint, and mentioned Father Zantus and the church, he doesn't need to have a lot of specificity. The Cathedral in Sandpoint caters to 6 of the most common good gods. Which at the time the module was printed had Erastil, Iomedae, Torag, Sarenrae, Shelyn, Desna (and Cayden, but I doubt he's represented at the Sandpoint Cathedral).

So for example he can be a product of Lamashtu, not know it, and be disturbed by it. His only release is the work of the gods of the Sandpoint Cathedral (all of them), but he doesn't ascribe to any particular one, or understand the forces at work. Maybe he thinks it's Desna's work one day, something else can be Sarenrae's doing. All the while he's 'lucky' that they are on his side. When he does something a little on the either dark or violent side, that's Lamashtu's influence coming out. Maybe even use his spellcasting from different sources when he uses them. Light spell, Iomedae. Charm Person, Shelyn. Turning undead, Sarenrae.

He can have both domains, that wasn't the part that caused me a little consternation, it was the having both while being a fervent Desnan (which does not grant both). I don't want to ruin the concept, I enjoy the concept and the character, I like his unwanted connection to madness. It's just that following a particular deity in PF has more mechanics to it than just for flavor. I would rather you slighty modify his flavor, than his concept.

I thought that in Pathfinder games you needed a god?

Aard, I've gotten in the habit of including the following spoiler at the end of all my combat posts - is there anything else you'd find helpful for me to add to it?

----

Also, I think this portrait is more suitable for Faedrin. Plus, it actually looks similar to Elrawien's portrait. Yay twins!

Maybe in PFS, but we're not doing that (just using some of the materials from it) so it should be okay.

If Uber uses the ideas Dal and I suggested of venerating the entire Sandpoint pantheon, with maybe a little negative influence from Lamashtu, then Tanj technically follows multiple deities.

Dal, the spoiler works fine. Personally, I use the base stat blocks in the PC's title (see some of my aliases), and may request it of everyone. Or the spoiler version you use.

I just think the spoiler version is something that needs to be built and added to each post, whereas the one in the title is a constant and just needs periodic modifications.

That being said, the spoiler does offer the opportunity, to track what has or hasn't been done if any backtracking needs to be done.

I think I will allow either one, as long as one version is used (either in the title or spoilered).

How does one build all those wonderful toys into their posts and in their profile?

Ok, sold on the "entire pantheon" take and the Force for Good trait. Will edit backstory to reflect.

Now I'll gear-up the Tanj and he'll be ready to start play by midnight eastern.

Oh, and Shalafi:

First, when you click on your profile, go to the profile tab, and use the "Edit my Profile" button. Like you have it in your main profile (Shalafi) and the Talinthal alias.

In the space on the profile where it is left open labeled "Classes/Levels" If you type it in there it shows up in your title.

If you fill in the Race and Gender spaces, they show up as well.

Also, like Dal has, you can put common dice functions in the profile, and it doesn't roll them. This allows you to pre-build them, so you only have to copy/paste them from your profile.

Here is one of my (Aardvark's) many aliases. See how the labels looks in the title? Open her profile and you can see how I filled in the blanks to where they show up.

You can also make board code entirely cut-and-pastable without adding in spaces with some clever use of the ooc brackets. Learned this from a dude in another pbp and it blew my mind.

If you want to have a non-dice expression show up without the boards executing it, make the first bracket itself ooc.

So if you copy this and paste it into your profile...

[ooc][[/ooc]Spoiler=Mysterious Writing]Explosive RUNES![/spoiler]

it will look like this on your profile page:
[Spoiler=Mysterious Writing]Explosive RUNES![/spoiler]
If you look really closely, that left most bracket is in blue ooc-text.

Which you can then copy from your profile and post into a game. That's how I have my Status spoiler set up.

That's pretty neat, I had never thought of that, thank you Dal.

How does it look?

Good so far. Now in the profile itself, the part that says "About Elrawien", if you could post the Hero Lab exported profile, like the one you had posted previously on page 4 of this thread that would be great.

When you do that, if you could type in all the skills that are useable untrained and their scores, that would be ideal.

If you want to put any more info in the profile, that's up to you. Things like your backstory, or a description of your appearance, or any pre-formatting like die rolls or spoilers that you can copy paste into your posts.

Also, if you could paste the following in your Classes/Labels space after your class, it would be helpful:

(AC: 17 [T: 13 /FF: 14] +1 dodge w/ crowd control ; HP: 27/27; F+5, R+3, W+3 (+5 vs Enchantment); Init: +3; Perc: +8)

of course just make sure you change it to reflect your stats ;)

Ok. Give me a little time to do that, I am at work.

Just because it'd probably be good for the twin brother to know, how is Elrawien pronounced? Is it El-RAW-wee-en? El-ra-WEE-en? El-ra-WHY-en? EL-ra-ween? El-RAY-wee-en?

So many different ways to break that down phonetically. =)

El ra wee en.Do we have nick names for each other?

You're welcome to come up with whatever you like for referring to Faedrin =) "Fade" or "Drin" are probably the two most obvious and easy possibilities.

I think Faedrin might call you "Wasp" or "Little Wasp" because of your association with Calistria. Also "Sister". He'll likely use that a bunch too.

She can sting, I like that.

Drin sounds like a childhood term of endearment meant for intimate conversations. Fade in public.

I'm rather stoked to be playing with people that have enough background to play siblings for once.

So just to be certain, what exactly is wrong with Oswald, or is he more than finished?

Sorry, Duboris, I didn't clarify. I think the only issues I had were the implications of the shadow lodge, but I think we're good. I also couldn't find the trait, but Lein showed me where to find it.

I think everyone's just about done, and if FuriaRIOT shows up he'll just have to play catch up. I imagine I may start the game either Sat or Sun night (based on if the wife doesn't get upset over the time I spend on the computer).

As far as time, I'm an east coaster, but I work rotating shifts. So I am on at completely random times. If you have any questions or issues about how I run a game, you could ask Ubertripp, or follow one of my campaigns here on the forums (always labeled Aardvark's .... Campaign).

So there was a paladin in the best-written PbP I've ever read that worshipped Irori, Sarenrae, and Iomedae, and received powers from them individually. 'Twas totally fine.

So are we done? WE'RE DONE! Right? Any more character development we've got to do? I really like Faedrin and the Desnan cleric a lot.

Also, I am west coaster. I just graduated from high school, so I've got a lot of free time for a few months...I'll be on most times. I also know...quite a bit about the game, so feel free to ask me questions and stuff.

I live in New Mexico

I'm east coast now

(But most of my life was spent in New Mexico! Love the Land of Enchantment!)

What part, Uber?

Red or green?

Ok, I think I'm ready rumble.

Or, in the case of a cleric: Let's get ready to HUUUUMMMMMBLE!

What part, Uber?

Red or green?

Albuquerque.

Christmas on combo plates, red otherwise.

Nice, what was your favorite place to eat?

We have a good party.
Let's have a rager!

Nice, what was your favorite place to eat?

Too many to choose. Los Cuates, Papa Filipe's, El Pinto for the patios and the chile con carne, Eloys, that place way down on 2nd street that has frickin' relleno burritos (!)... My wife loves Frontier vegetarian burritos, and I could eat Frontier tortillas like a thirsty man drinks water.

But the place I probably miss the most is Dion's. There really isn't anything to compare to that out here. Quality, variety, convenience, consistency.

When I visited for a week last year, I pledged that every meal would be either New Mexican or Dion's. Success.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are some fabulous restaurants out here, and one has plenty of ethnic cuisine, but Mexican or Latin food isn't the same as New Mexican because of the chile. It's an issue. (As this rant suggests.)

How about you? What part of the state are you in, and where do you get your food? [And I actually stopped typing in the middle of that sentence and started thinking about mopping up red chile sauce with a sopa.]

I have a sudden urge to eat things.

I have a sudden urge to eat things.

Hungry, Oz secretly worships Rovagug, or both?

There are a few I like. Los Cuates has good salsa and I like their chile. The Owl Café has good green. Little Anita's is okay too and I like Garcias.

Dion's is meh. I find that the pizza is greasy. That may stem from my days teaching at a charter school where they had to bring in food from Dion's because there was no cafeteria so it was overkill. They do have good sandwiches and salads though.

Not much of a fan of the Frontier but since I am not UNM alumn and only have taken classes there it is not so much a draw.

Random Age: 15 + 1d6 ⇒ 15 + (2) = 17
Random Height: 58 + 2d10 ⇒ 58 + (10, 7) = 75

I see you guys really like Mexican food.

I prefer New Mexican food to Mexican food. There is a difference.

Duboris wrote:

I have a sudden urge to eat things.

Hungry, Oz secretly worships Rovagug, or both?

That just gave me a hilariously nice idea for a character, though he'd be chaotic neutral, of course.

Seperatist cleric, ranks in profession: Chef, considers himself refined and believes that while Rovagug is destructive, it's merely hungry, and basically ends up having a hannibal mindset, only, no cannibalism.

Just a really refined sort of guy with a high con/wis/cha

Or just drop the rovagug entirely and have him be a cleric that worships something involving eating frequently and having good manners.

It's silly, but having a fat cleric always did appeal to me. That's a character for another game, however! As I'm more interested in Oz at the moment XD

Dam. This is what happens when hunger and PF mix, eh?

ubertripp wrote:

Duboris wrote:

I have a sudden urge to eat things.

Hungry, Oz secretly worships Rovagug, or both?

That just gave me a hilariously nice idea for a character, though he'd be chaotic neutral, of course.

Seperatist cleric, ranks in profession: Chef, considers himself refined and believes that while Rovagug is destructive, it's merely hungry, and basically ends up having a hannibal mindset, only, no cannibalism.

Just a really refined sort of guy with a high con/wis/cha

Or just drop the rovagug entirely and have him be a cleric that worships something involving eating frequently and having good manners.

It's silly, but having a fat cleric always did appeal to me. That's a character for another game, however! As I'm more interested in Oz at the moment XD

Dam. This is what happens when hunger and PF mix, eh?

You could also take wizard levels and the Bloatmage Initiate feat and then RP that the link between arcane and divine magic is food, and go into Mystic Theurge.

Okay, one last bit of clarification from each of you.

Where do you live in Magnimar? Do you stay at the lodge (do they require rent for extended stays, I have no idea)? Do you have your own place, or rent a place with your twin? If the Lodge wanted to get a hold of you, where would they send either a missive or a runner?

If you do stay at the lodge, I would imagine it works like a "do your part while you're here" arrangement. So if you stay there, what do you do to help out (and I don't mean not real work jobs 'I line up the books in the shelves')?

Spellcraft rolls
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20 Ear Piercing Scream Scroll
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19Protection from Evil Scroll
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 Shield Scroll
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22 Charm Person Scroll

She will go wherever Fade goes.

Okay, one last bit of clarification from each of you.

Where do you live in Magnimar? Do you stay at the lodge (do they require rent for extended stays, I have no idea)? Do you have your own place, or rent a place with your twin? If the Lodge wanted to get a hold of you, where would they send either a missive or a runner?

If you do stay at the lodge, I would imagine it works like a "do your part while you're here" arrangement. So if you stay there, what do you do to help out (and I don't mean not real work jobs 'I line up the books in the shelves')?

Oz prefers to stay at the lodge, if only to keep an eye on anyone acting suspicious. He's like a bouncer, that is, without the muscle. He's prone to alerting the venture-captain of any suspicious business, and has a history of getting unruly people removed from the premises.

When he's not at the lodge he's nearly impossible to keep tabs on as he sticks to the back alleys of the shadow district to get from A-B.

Oz is quite comfortable sleeping in the darker, danker back alleys, and doesn't actually own a home/house. He has no family either, making it a point to flee from his home at an early age.

That ok?

How much time would have passed between us getting booted from the family estate and the start of the adventure? I was kind of assuming that after signing on with the Pathfinder's we'd be staying at Heidmarch Manor

I am really excited about this.

A couple last requests before we actually kick this thing off.

All purely OOC posts be put only in the discussion thread (periodically I may post a push it along OOC only, like "So, what are you guys doing?")

All posts be formatted as follows:
IC text Bolded
Thoughts Italicized
All other narrative, normal
All game mechanics done Out of Character

Example:
He looked at the strange man telling him how to format with concern, "Yeah, duh, everyone knows that's how to post." shaking his head he, thinks, Who does this guy think he is? while trying to determine if he's actually serious about this.

Move action, Sense Motive 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

As far as how long it's been since Fade and Elle have been kicked out, that's up to you two.

Yes Duboris, that's fine, though they would better benefit from the latter (watcher) than the former (bouncer) considering they're Venture-Captains and can take care of themselves fairly well.

So I'm ready to start at the drop of a hat, by the way. Like, more ready than I should be.

So ready...