Working on the background re-write now. I've reached Deepmar, sorry for the delay they pulled a clamp down at work on me so I couldn't with good conscience go on paizo to work on it.
Intro post is up! (Well, for everyone except for Synthia and Beshra.)
History needs a bit of updating to fit the updated narrative.
Done.
Okay, after thinking about it, I think I am going to take that Sure Grasp feat DM Barcas recommended instead of Athletic, and I'm putting the skill point I skipped into Swim.
As for the traits, I dunno. I mean, she actually was a vagabond child of the streets, y'know?
Stats, I just wanted a well rounded character, with most stats with +1 or +2. I can adjust, no problem. I can see the benefit of increasing his strength for improving his ability to hit.
Hedge Magician — I didn’t plan on doing much crafting; merely took it to emphasize his meticulous alchemical schooling, dwarven tradition of being fine and frugal craftsmen.
Weapon — Originally, it was a battle axe, but I thought sneak attack needed a light weapon to be used. Rechecking, that doesn’t appear to be the case, so I’ll use a battle axe.
Armor — I thought Vrunyar would initially roleplay being afraid of drowning with the armor, but then finding the real threat of getting killed in a fight offsets that potential. I don’t mind considering such “life experience” in the past and giving him some leather armor.
Steel Soul — I wanted to see how effective the feat is. Never used it before but it seemed like a powerful addition.
I'll add a line of prepared formulae for the day.
Adjusted stats, weapons, gold, and armor. I'm not completely satisfied with the "prepared" line for the formulae. There's something about it that doesn't look streamlined.
Good start over in the game thread, y'all!
Beshra will be on the Jenivere, as will her mentor Kerith, after a trip up to Magnimar to study Besmara's influence there. However, hold off on a post until after Synthia appeals to Barnabas Harrigan - I'm going to introduce Beshra rather dramatically.
And there, Beshra is introduced!
"NOONE EATS FOR FREE!"
Crackin' me up, right there.
"NOONE EATS FOR FREE!"Crackin' me up, right there.
Ditto - this game is off to a great start!
Great start! What do Beshra and Synthia currently have on them? Are they in clothing only or do they still have their possessions? Is Beshra wearing her Armored Coat? Its a move action to put on and remove so she'd probably have put it on if she felt threatened, and could also be easily stripped of it.
Have any measures been taken to secure her tail? She generally tries to keep it hidden, but can't really do so easily for long as it tends to display her emotions, and occasionally Tharash's, if she's not careful.
Also I'm planning to shamelessly steal Sheldon Cooper's favorite song for part of "The Cat Princess". Not that it'll likely come up for a long while, but it amuses me and I think it fits quite well.
They'd take precautions upon capture to ensure that the prisoners are unarmed and unarmored. (Hence the surprise at the sudden appearance of the rapier.)
Her tail is free, though.
This is a pickle. Syn's not a trained Escape Artist, unfortunately. And I'm halfway afraid of what might happen if we do manage to free ourselves—we're still in the hold of ship full of murderous pirates, without arms or armor.
One idea I had earlier today is that the pirate that Vrunyar thinks is responsible for Yennard's death could be a character from somebody else's background.
If you think this is a decent idea, just tell me which pirate is a good choice and I'll switch the names in the background.
Anyone have a good idea for a new name for Ollie's brother?
Colwin? Peytor? Probably something that sounds like a slight twist on a relatively common western name, like Ollivor.
For the record Beshra is not ignoring Kerith's death, she's just setting it aside for the moment as she has no time to deal with it. Plus she is probably not prepared to take as inevitable the demise of a Priestess of a Sea Goddess dumped into the sea, even if she had a large hole in her.
Anyone have a good idea for a new name for Ollie's brother?
I was going to suggest Barrett. I don't if any of you have read Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books (though I expect you have), but Captain Aubrey's coxswain is a truly decent soul named Barrett Bonden. A tar through and through, a capital seaman and a thoughtful fellow, someone of his character would make for an excellent older brother.
One idea I had earlier today is that the pirate that Vrunyar thinks is responsible for Yennard's death could be a character from somebody else's background.
If you think this is a decent idea, just tell me which pirate is a good choice and I'll switch the names in the background.
It can be interesting to link backstories this way. That said, the only pirate I've named in Doran's background (Makris Barrow), who survived the last shipwreck may not be a good fit: he's mostly sailed the Inner Sea - though he may have had a life in The Shackles as well - and Doran and he would probably attempt to kill each other on sight. So there may already be enough drama in that relationship.
But I'd entertain ideas as to how to link them up. Perhaps your poisoning pirate was one of Barrow's cronies, and they're working together now, either to kill more of Yennard's family, or in order to kill Doran, or both? Some of this is probably more of Barcas' turf than ours, but it's always fun to bounce story ideas around.
Added a spell known since I believe I had counted Cure Light Wounds as one of them. Went with Oracles Destiny.
Do you have a link? I can't find that spell, unless you mean Embrace Destiny.
I do indeed, it's not going to be too useful for a while, but I'm planning to take all the oracle only spells I can.
Colwin? Peytor? Probably something that sounds like a slight twist on a relatively common western name, like Ollivor.
I like Colwin actually. It sounds solid to me, if that makes any sense. I'll go with that.
Anyone have a good idea for a new name for Ollie's brother?I was going to suggest Barrett. I don't if any of you have read Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books (though I expect you have), but Captain Aubrey's coxswain is a truly decent soul named Barrett Bonden. A tar through and through, a capital seaman and a thoughtful fellow, someone of his character would make for an excellent older brother.
I've heard of them, but have never read them. I think I'll stick with Colwin unless the DM prefers otherwise, though Barrett does sound like a good model to base Colwin off of.
Thanks to you both!
Just a heads up that I may be scarce for the next 24 hours. We're visiting the inlaws in the mountains and their internet connection is not strong. I'm also having trouble loading the Paizo messageboards, but I don't know whether that's just me or there's trouble with the site.
Gah, the cabin or hold we're imprisoned in is "completely dark." I read right over that, thinks for the gentle heads up, Beshra.
How are Synthia and Beshra feeling about Harrigan? I tried to convey a picture of a man utterly without mercy or conscience, as well as incredible and terrible strength. How did Beshra feel seeing her mentor - strained as their relationship was - butchered and thrown into the sea?
Beshra's pretty terrified, but trying to push that and her emotions aside for the time being. She has a plan for escape, which might take a while to implement but is giving her something to focus on. She thinks there is a reasonable chance Kerith still lives to.
How large is the cargo hold? Is it filled with cargo? Presumably there is only the one door?
It is about 10' by 10'. There is a little cargo, but most of it was in the main hold outside the door. There is, in fact, only one door. (And it is locked.)
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WOW! So I just got done with reading the rest of your Kingmaker AP, and That was one hell of a battle. I think its interesting, that for a different Kingmaker AP I made a (Arcane Duelist) Bard that was going to go Dragon Disciple PrC... his name was Andrei Rogarvia. I'm glad to see someone else picking up on the Choral hooks that were scattered all over.
And I love how Jemini always seems to roll the clutch 20's when it counts. Really epic stuff.
Yes, Jemini has a rather impressive string of critically important critical hits/successes.
Doran, will you give them a tour of the ship? Feel free to make it up, so long as it fits the bucket-of-bolts mold. (If any of you want to add some details or go exploring, I trust you to do so.)
Synthia would never admit to be terrified, and in fact isn't even self-reflective enough to recognize what she's feeling is a great deal of fear. She's expressing it as paranoia and anger.
Help me picture your characters: who would play them if this were live action? (If it's not a well-known American actor/actress, please provide a link.)
Bonus: if they have a theme song, what would it be? (Preferably with a link.)
Synthia would be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and this would be her theme song.
Well for appearance alone Beyonce, with black hair. Beyonce
I don't know how appropriate they are for any of our characters, but here are a couple of old "nautical pop" songs I like, one an environmentalist shanty, the other a working class epic.
Theme song hey? I think I'd go with THIS. Because like Beshra the singer is what I would dub, surface cynical, while actually being a romantic, etc.
DM Barcas, if I use detect thoughts on someone, with no visible or auditory elements since its a spell-like ability do people know? I've had previous DMs say that since you get a will save you know something is happening, etc. I don't believe there is any rule that supports this, but I can see the point that it would be hard to mentally pit your will against something if you could not feel it in someway. Of course whether it can be felt or not makes a big difference to its utility, if someone feels you invading their mind with no idea what exactly you are doing they are likely to attack.
It's not a perfect fit, as he's a bit too handsome, and far too tall, but Clive Owen is close. He always has a little quiet smile, as if he can't help see something funny even in a bad situation, and his characters often seem to have a bit of a dark past, which fits the slightly haunted character of Doran.
Edit: okay, maybe more than a bit too handsome. Will ponder the theme song and see if anything comes to me.
And for Captain Bleak - who I think of as ethnically Chelaxian - Ron Perlman With The Rains of Castemere as his theme song, no wait, sorry going to have to go disney again... THIS.
I wouldn't like to limit DM Barcas's choices, but I'm thinking of him as a Magus, which allows him to be a powerful melee combatant with the magical chops and intelligence to be a great schemer. A sort of human Scar meets Euron Crows Eye, from A Song of Ice and Fire.
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Looks wise I would go with a sligtly bulkery Kevin McKidd. Personality wise, I'm feeling a bit of Dirty Harry crossed with some Ernest Shackleton. Basically stern, gruff and unwilling to backdown even in the face of defeat. My theme song would have to be. This.
Sorry for the delay... I got caught up in something, and I'm not terribly good at naming actors :) or with links apparently
Both actors that came to mind are long in the tooth for the role of Ollivor Myles now. Still, if we could go back in time, I can see Leonardo Dicaprio getting tapped if the studio wanted to play up the charisma/pretty boy angle. Slap a goatee on the guy, and voila. If they wanted him to not outshine the main stars in the heart throbs department, I can see Matthew Lillard (Who has worked face scruff before as the live action Shaggy in Scooby Doo movies).
Of course, Alan Tudyk's image from the Knight's Tale came up (But with hair dyed light brown) but I think all the firefly references are what put my head there.
Give me a bit longer to think of the theme song...
more than one is coming to mind.
Ok. It's a bit too current, but some of the lyrics still fit, and what the heck, I enjoyed Wreck It Ralph, so This
Ahaa.. the old 'who-your-actor' game eh? Well, ok. I was going to say Ron Perlman but I changed my mind reading over you guys's actors and came down with Tom Hanks (yes, the one and only). But theme music? Well something dark and dramatic and heroic. How 'bout link here?
Thanks! I asked earlier about the Aubrey/Maturin books for a reason. O'Brian's grasp of naval terminology was truly amazing, and I've got a couple of reference books related to the series. One, called "A Sea of Words" has hundreds of pages of terms, and a few diagrams of different ship rigs. I've also read all 20 books in the series a couple of times, and I try to draw on the style for Doran's speech.
I'll try not to heap too much lingo into my posts, but it does give a very nautical flavor to things, eh?
p.s. -In addition to being nautically accurate, they are beautifully crafted, funny, subtle and historically interesting books.
Actor and theme music? Hmmm, music would be energetic, a bit melancholy and also hints of joy. Beethoven's Ninth might be too vast -- Mendelssohn's Opus 20's Scherzo has the energy, but not quite the sadness Vrunyar has at this point in his life. I could think about this for a long time, but at this moment I'll just go with Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet's "A Fuller Wine" Here I'm sure I could find a Coltrane, Tori Amos, the Cure, etc. song that fits, but this will do for now.
Actor? Much more difficult. I just think he looks like the avatar I chose since this was the red-haired dwarf that fit Vrunyar best. Maybe De Niro from "Taxi Driver" or how about animated by Miyazaki and voice acted by Alan Rickman.
Excellent description Doran! Very well done.
Thanks very much, I enjoyed writing it.
I think it's quite funny that to detect John's feelings behind the rum question is only a DC 6. I know it's the result of a dice roll, but it gives an immediate sense of how clearly he wants a drink. Before I clicked on the spoiler, I thought you might have just selected the DC, which is unusual but would be an interesting way of conveying the strength of his thirst.
Edit: I also think it's funny that I rolled a 1 and could still see through him.