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Hi this is a game for those who have contacted me about running a Skull & Shackles game, and those I've invited to join in.
For those in the game, welcome! Feel free to post here while we set up the game thread, and if you need to use this space for discussing and rolling up characters. Here are the guidelines.
1. Any races, classes, or other material from the core rulebook, Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Combat, or Ultimate Magic books allowed. Anything from other sources, check with me first. Aebliss, your tiefling concept is fine.
2. For building your ability stats, use the high fantasy 20-point character build.
3. Each character should start with two character traits; one should be selected from the Skull & Shackles player’s guide, which will help to set your character up at the beginning of the game.
4. Alignment – any good or neutral characters. Given the nature of the game, I might allow an evil character if you demonstrate that the character can work with the group and is unlikely to upset good folk. Some of your characters might be anti-heroes, but they're still the heroes of the story!
5. Have a close read of the Skull & Shackles Player's Guide when designing your characters. This game is meant to bring to life for your characters the thrill of life at sea and the dangers of shipboard combat, which tend to favor certain skills - the guide will give advice for outfitting your character to meet those challenges.
6. Characters start off with their maximum hit points at first level, and maximum starting gold for their character class. They’ll need it, but don't be surprised if you don't have access to all of your equipment right off the bat!
7. I’m posting from the UK, my expectation is to post and move the game forwards every 1-2 days, I usually check posts in the evenings.
I've already received a few character concepts, this has turned out to be a large group so play what you like and don't worry about doubling-up on character classes, as long as everyone gets a chance to shine.
What I think we have so far:
Aebliss - CG tiefling bard "Quara Sher"
Justin - rogue
Gerald - sorcerer
Krallek - swashbuckler rogue/fighter or dwarf cleric
Werner - ?
Deevor - ?
WoodSmoke - ?
I hope I've covered everything, any questions?
This is Gerald's sorcerer. If someone else is favoring an arcane caster, I'm fine with creating a different character to fill in whatever the party needs. Just let me know.
Heeeeere's Quara. ;)
I just need to pick my equipment. Otherwise, I'm set.
Hello all. Glad to be on board. I will be redoing this character or submitting a cleric for this adventure.
Hello hello. I think I'll be making either a Witch or an Oracle of the Wind or Waves. Either option will serve to make the quasi-crazy, superstitious, fable-toting, pirate-lorekeeping witch-doctor type I have in mind come to fruition. If I go with witch and Gerald has a sorcerer I don't think having the two arcanists will be much of an issue since we'll likely serve different purposes. I'm slightly hesitant about the oracle only because I've been playing a lot of healers in campaigns recently so would like to back off of that role a bit. (Oracle of the Wind would probably overlap with a stormborn sorcerer, too).
If you do go for a Witch, might I request you nevertheless take Healing Hex? At the lower levels, having some extra healing power on the team is a big plus.
I'll probably wait and decide what to play when others have announced their characters. If we are completely shot on a healer I'll roll up an oracle. Or, depending on what the group shapes up to be, might do something completely different. And yeah, any pocket healing with a group of this size will be useful. The witch I've started is human and both level 1 feats I took were Extra Hex for a total of three; Healing, Water Lung, and Evil Eye.
I'm still leaning towards the swashbuckling fighter rogue but creating a dwarven cleric with the travel/luck/air or one of several other domains sounds like an absolutely perfect fit for the campaign and a hoot to play. So many decisions!!
You could always roll 1d2 to decide. :p
I had a halfling cleric for this before, but if an Undine was allowed, then I'd go for that as a cleric of Besmara. If Poxymoron goes for his swashbuckling rogue/fighter, then I'd be happy to have another go with the cleric.
Alternatively I was thinking a human summoner (mwangi escaped slave turned pirate) or an undine barbarian(brutal pugalist probably) who was found as a child by pirates and kept 'cos he was good at pearl diving.
ok I can see I'm holding folk back with my indecision. I will go with the cleric. Not sure on the domains just yet but i will be wielding a reach weapon.
CH, see what you think of this .. I have a backstory in mind, but I'll write it if you'd accept a character like this. In brief, captured as a child by pirates, being a good swimmer was used for pearl diving (always a pearl diver, that's why the village was attacked). Fearless diver, as he grew to a young man and his strength improved, he took pearls from shark infested waters, more regularly as he began to show off his prowess. Eventually his luck ran out, hence a peg leg. He tries his hand at being a pirate and learned to handle weapons and fight. He has just returned from a diving expedition and spent his pearls on wine, women & more women .....
I'll do a bit more to flesh out some details but that's the size of it.... Take a look and see if you'll allow him in the game...His build may change a bit, may change Power Attack for Dodge, as he wears no armor.
UndineBarbarian
Undine Barbarian (Savage Barbarian) 1
CN Medium Outsider (native)
Init +2; Senses darkvision; Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 shield, +2 Dex)
hp 16 (1d12+3)
Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +1; +2 trait bonus vs. charm and compulsion
Resist cold 5
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Offense
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Speed 40 ft., swimming (30 feet)
Melee Heavy Shield Bash +3 (1d4+2/x2) and
Cutlass +3 (1d6+2/18-20/x2) and
Warhammer +3 (1d8+2/x3)
Special Attacks rage (7 rounds/day)
Spell-Like Abilities Hydraulic Push (1/day)
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +3; CMD 15
Feats Power Attack -1/+2
Traits Birthmark, Peg Leg
Skills Acrobatics +0 (+4 jump), Climb +4, Escape Artist +0, Fly +0, Perception +5, Profession (sailor) +2, Ride +0, Stealth +0, Survival +5, Swim +8
Languages Aquan, Common
SQ fast movement +10
Other Gear Heavy wooden shield, Cutlass, Warhammer, 116 GP
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Special Abilities
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Birthmark +2 save vs. charm & compulsion
Damage Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Cold attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Peg Leg +1 trait bonus to damage vs animals with the Aquatic subtype.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rage (7 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Swimming (30 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Oh I forgot to say ... he's a barbarian with no armor ... :)
I know, I'd best start rolling another, but it's gonna be fun to see if he can last past first level ... and I'll give him a name soon...
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We can always stick a ring on his finger, and give him an amulet, or bracers or something, Deevor! I like the idea...
Here we have Kenya Bloodblade, gunslinger and granddaughter of the fearsome Captain Alvor Bloodblade!
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Deevor, that's fine if you want to play an undine. An intriguing idea for this game. All the characters look great so far.
Ok, if I'm right this is what we have so far:
Gerald - male human sorcerer (Atajay)
Aebliss - female tiefling bard (Quara Sher)
Wandslinger - female human gunslinger (Kenya Bloodblade)
Deevor - male undine barbarian
Poxymoron - dwarven cleric
Woodsmoke - witch or oracle
Just waiting for Werner and Justin to report in, if they are still able to join in.
Cool, great I'll get him set up, here's hoping someone knows mage armour to help him and a name ... hmmm! the difficult bit.
Presenting Batango the Witch. I'll edit in the fluff soon. Also CH I made this character middle-aged if that isn't a problem (so the -1 Str, Dex, and Con and +1 Int, Wis, and Cha are factored into those starting ability scores).
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Hey there, just been looking at everyone's traits.
@Batango: Good character, Woodsmoke, interesting that he's middle-aged, a nice change. Where is Batango from, and how did he get to be in Port Peril?
@Kenya: same, how did she end up in Port Peril?
@deevor: same, where does your undine hail from? Interesting to have an aquatic creature with a peg leg, and interesting to see how your barbarian and Atajay get on, given that he has a dislike for aquatic creatures.
Oh, Atajay is not going to be fond of a walking fish, at least early on!
Undines aren't aquatic, although I could use an alt racial feature to add that .....
I am hoping that his looks are somewhat hidden by tattoos, such that his underlying blue skin is somewhat disguised. His fin like ears, are nearly always hidden under a coloured bandana and long dark navy hair. His webbed hands will hopefully not attract too much attention. :)
I'm sure we'll get along fine, particularly if you need help with a swim. ;)
I think he will come from a small fishing hamlet/village, also a source of pearls. Situated on the coast between Port Peril and the Devils Arches, maybe even on the Devil's Arches.
Kenya has been chasing the legends of her grandfather's namesake, the Bloodblade. Said to be the finest cutlass on the sea, she has been enchanted with the idea of finding it, and her grandfather's treasure, since she was young. She ccame to port peril following rumors and secondhand accounts of blade sightings. She got a liitle too friendly with a pretty pirate lady though, and wound up drunker thsn planned, and of course captured.
Batango is from Sargava originally but spent most of his upbringing on and around ships, though he has spent most of his adulthood as somewhat of a hermit (which is how I am justifying his being middle-aged and still first level). He has recently come out of his asceticism and has traveled to the Shackles (perhaps due to dreams or visions of him finding something there, playing into the Blessing campaign trait, or otherwise he dreamed that it was time to return to the sea and knew that the Shackles would be the place to do so).
Just saving his story here whilst I get the character together and so you know how far I've got with it.
Rising out of the gently lapping azure sea, walking up the white sandy beach a broad grin on his blue face, Arzen holds a dripping wet brown leather pouch high. In this pouch he holds the key to his family's and the village's security. Tribute, in the form of white and blue pearls, safety and protection bought from the the pirate Old Red Dog McSweeney. At least that's what the blue skinned boy of twelve had always thought. His talents had helped Tassenvale Haven, a small village sheltered from the ravages of the wild oceans, a place where the water is calm and blue, the village nestled between the hills, an idyll away from the violence of the world around. It was here many years ago, their forefathers, a few slaves of the Chelaxian lords of the Devil's Arches had managed to escape, many races, many different skills, but one burning ambition to be free. And so it was Tassenvale Haven was born, a community built on cooperation with no alliance to any, a home for the disposed.
Even now as he looked out over the harbour at Port Peril, the ships anchored and tied up, the quiet of the night, broken by the sound of sailors going to and fro from tavern to tavern and the occasional drunken song or fight. Arzen could not help but give a rueful look as his mind went back to those innocent days of his youth. Now aged 22, he understood the way of the world and accepted it. One man's word, is only as strong as his ability to to keep it, and one man's life is only as strong as his usefulness to the one holding the sword.
Now, after years of keeping himself alive, he nods and flicking a small white pearl in his hand, enough for a meal and several drinks, he turns on his good leg, before putting his peg leg down and striding across to the tarvern. He walks proud, with barely any clothes, the decorations on his skin, tattoo upon tattoo, cover him from head to toe. On his head he wear a red bandana, with a pattern of golden waves, that cover his strange gill like ears, navy blue coloured shoulder length hair falls down from under the cloth. A walking tapestry of scenes from the sea, yet as with the sea, the colours all seem blue. As he breathes and his muscled body moves, the seas and lines on his body roll and lap just as the waves. That is with exception of the dark red wood of his peg leg, its tip softened by a patch of leather tied to its bottom. To cover his manhood, he wears just a loin cloth coloured dark blue, with a pale blue line at its edge, which switches one way then another with the folds of its wearing. Around his waist, a chain belt, dull metal grey made of fine linked chain, with linked hinges from which hang various small tools, daggers and valuables. To each side, hangs a weapon, a second hand cutlass with a red leather handle and polished steel blade is easily reachable on his right and strapped across his back a warhammer and wooden shield. No one in Port Peril walks without their own protection.
As he reaches the tavern door, he can see the yellow light of the torches and lamps stream out the windows illuminating the dirty packed earthen street surface and badly built wooden structure of the building. He sighs to himself, hoping against hope that he won't have to recite his story of the leg, or what used to be his real leg. Not that it made any difference now, it had been five years and the peg leg made no difference to his abilities any more.
But five years ago he'd been diving for pearls off Motaku Island and boasting to his companions aboard 'The Wicked Whale' that he could easily retrieve any pearls if there were any, there were after all only six deadly sharks swimming in the vicinity. Yet this time his pride and arrogance was his downfall, perhaps he'd not given enough of a gift to Gozreh as he harvested the bounties of the sea. It came on him in an instant, as he struggled to loose the oyster, a black shadow, fast and deadly. He turned and twisted away as jaws of white razor sharp snapped closed through the water where his head had just been. In the swirling mass of shark and water, Arven had kicked out at the shark, using its body to propel him faster up to the surface, in a race for safety. He burst through the surface of the blue green sea, his arms reached up to catch hold of the rope hanging over the side. "Quick" he had cried, "pull me up." He had scrambled out of the water, his legs dangling two feet above the surf, but it was not high enough. The black brute of a shark, would not give up its prey so quickly. It leapt upwards catching Arven's left leg below the knee, this time its deadly knife-edged and jagged teeth did the rest, as Arven was left to cry in agony and be pulled to safety. He never had hated much in nature, until then, though his friends laughed sympathically and named him "The Sharks' Friend" His eyes harden, as Arven looks up and remembers where he is, outside the tavern with pearls to spend, ale to drink and women to please.
He chuckled to himself, that the raid on Tassenvale Haven had changed his life. It was then they learned that Captain McSweeney was unable to afford them protection, or chose to look away. Taken captive or sold, it mattered not which, he was to become 'The Wicked Whales' cabin boy and underwater diver. They took only him, though he was unsure why, but he was forever being told to dive into the sea to retrieve some sunken treasure, a jewel, some fancy ancient weapon from its watery grave. At first he thought himself a slave, but first mate Thorsten had paid him, the same as any of the lowly sailors. With time he was allowed to leave the ship on his own, to take a whore or get drunk, even until the time he thought the ship as his home. They even taught him to fight, with cutlass and shield, for it was best he could protect himself.
Thorsten said they weren't pirates but salvagers or things lost or unwanted, though they weren't adverse to violence when needed. Those were good years, until the shark. To be fair, they paid for a good wooden leg when they came into port at Rapier Bay and left him there, as they put it, 'to make the best of the skills he had left.' Not they gave any indication as to what they might be. For a year or more, he existed as a beggar, as he got practiced in the use of his peg leg and was able to return to the sea. It was difficult at first, but now he was once again as good with one leg as he ever was with two.
And tonight he would prove once again, that he could drink and womanise as easily with his wooden leg as he could before. He laughed and pushed the door to the tavern open, the sounds of frivolity, bawdy songs, clinking mugs and the smell of ale and exotic perfume filled the air. Yes, it would be a good night tonight......
Hope this is what will help with the undine barbarian's history.
Looks like youve got a crew here, DM, even if the others don't get in. I'm ready to rock and roll whenever you feel like starting the game.
I'm checking. ^^
So am I.
We all play the waiting game.
The game with rules so much more cruel than D&D and Pathfinder ever were... ^^
Sorry for my delayed reply. As I posted in another of CHH's games, been out of it for more than a week, due to a severe cold/flue.
Anyways, looking to play a female half-elven paladin.
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Oooh, a paladin! That'll be playing against type for this game, could be a challenge for your paly, not least just trying to get along with the Wormwood's crew of merry men.
Thanks for being patient folks, nearly there. Just been going through the opening material for the adventure. There are some bits that have the possibility of getting bogged down playing in a PbP format. I think I'll run things as they stand, but if we start getting bogged down I might gloss over that portion, as long as you all get a chance to experience the fun of life aboard the good ship Wormwood ...
Meanwhile, has everyone purchased their equipment? I'll let you know, as you may have guessed, to start with your characters will not have access to all their equipment. Choose one item from your belongings you feel your character could easily hide on themselves, you can keep that item, and we'll see about getting the rest back. :)
Atajay, I think you've already noted your stashed item on your character sheet, unless you're wanting to change it. Batango, this also applies to your witch's familiar, Tabook. I think we have three options, we'll go with whatever seems most sensible to you:
1 - Batango acquires Tabook once the adventure is underway. Your otter could be captured in the wild or found in a cage in the hold of the ship.
2 - Tabook found a way to follow you secretly onto the Wormwood, and is in hiding. Could be consequences though if the crew find your pet or you with your pet onboard ship.
3 - Like your equipment Tabook has been confiscated, and you need to locate him on the ship to get him back.
Nick, now reading the PG and I'm thinking that paladin might be a less-than-smart choice. Been a long time since I played one, but rethinking now ;-)
Since I have a test coming up tomorrow on airfreight shipping of hazardous materials (meaning some serious studying) I'll probably not get around to building my character before the weekend. But I'll try to give you some basics soonest.
Still gotta give Arven some more equipment...
I think Raven is going to be a half-elven sorcerer, with Touched by the Sea (partly aquatic elf) trait.
Changed Secret Stash feat to Dodge so I could start moving up to Deft Shootist.
Purchased a dagger so that I could have it upon my person.
I suppose option 3. I wouldn't want to go too long without having the familiar as, as I understand it, witches cannot prepare spells without one. As for the item I'll have on me, I will pick the waterskin, if only because Batango has such a strong tie to water.
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@Batango: yeah, option 3 sounds like a good choice for your witch. There will be opportunities soon to get Tabook back, especially since he's so important to you class-wise.
@A'vandira: that sounds like a fine choice. And if you really want to play a paladin, go for it, you might just have to be creative in how you play it.
@Kenya: noted!
I'll start posting up the introduction so you can start posting on the game thread, and it will give those still making characters time to finish before moving on. In the meantime, could those who have stats ready make a Perception check and an Intelligence check please?
Perception
Intelligence
Lol, awesome rolls to start a campaign!
Perception
Intelligence
I finally finished my equipment list! ^^
Perception:
Intelligence:
Screw it. Pardon my French, but I just lost everything I already typed up for a character sheet. Wanted to save it in my profile and the damned site just went to the main paizo page, not saving anything.
It'll do that. I suggest using wordpad and copyibg it from there.
There is also a browser plugin called Lazarus which can help, I used to use it for my pbps until work got funny with our internet use.
DM Crazyhedgehog: If you check over my equipment list, you'll see the numerous holy symbols. Quara carries one for each of the gods she pays her respects to. Is it okay for her to have them sewn to her belt?
As for hiding an item... How about the brass knuckles? :p
And uh, would you mind terribly if I swap Summon Monster I for Ear-Piercing Scream?