DM Púca's Jade Regent (Inactive)

Game Master rdknight

I'm fine either way. We've really only barely started this AP, so changing gears wouldn't change much on my side of things.

Inari very well could be a Sihidron Hero. He just wouldn't remember, which is a fun twist on things.

I might re-build Inari slightly, but he'd still be fundamentally the same character.

I change my vote to a switch as I do want to start with a new build I have one I spent a lot of time on that I did not get to play and I would like the opportunity to do so now.

In that case, would you care to link the build/share details, Shadow?
So that we don't double up?

I'm not locking things in just now, but it would be good to know what is covered, as there's a limited amount of options that will work with my concept without impacting my ability to carry my weight.

This build but not this race.

Okay, it looks like we're at 2 "yes" votes, and 2 shrugs. :)

Since there aren't any "no" votes we'll switch over. I'll need a couple of weeks maybe to get things set. In the mean time go ahead and figure out what you all want to do with your characters.

I'm down and out with flu right now so it may be a couple of days before I post again.

I'm gonna stick with with Correna as a Fighter/Sorcerer gestalt. I'll just tweak her for the new game.

I might keep the character and just completely change the classes with that other build as I do like her personality.

Spell-Less Ranger as in the Alternate Ranger Class from Kobold Press?
Is 3rd party in? Spheres? Psionics?
That would alter the options or possibilities somewhat.

Spell-Less Ranger as in the Alternate Ranger Class from Kobold Press?

Is 3rd party in? Spheres? Psionics?
That would alter the options or possibilities somewhat.

Well I am hoping it's in :-)

Spheres + Gestalt would turn the game into an action movie. It's fun and raucous, but it makes it harder to establish tension. On the other hand, if we want to kick in doors and quip our way through an adventure, there's really no better way to do it.

well, to be honest, psionics alone + gestalt turns it into an action movie already...*eyes Aegis*
bring in 3p and we're in anime action movie mode.
Spheres then simply kicks it up another gear :)

I'm not a big fan of psionics unless it's in a world like Dark Sun where it's one of the thematic pillars the setting is built on. For standard fantasy I much prefer the approach Paizo took with Occult Adventures.

The point was that it does not even take spheres, or specific third-party material.
Alternate rules system are sufficient for action movie.
Ergo: If we don't want to go there, the way would not be to ban options to try and limit availability, but to agree as a group that it's not what is desired.
@Psionics: Can't say I am a huge fan of some of the occult classes, either. The way I have them seen used was with a mid-caster with full attack(the occultist build) and two "everything"-medium builds. That's to say, I mostly saw them in cheese builds up to now. Good characters, no question, but leaves a sour taste all the same.(kinda like Path of War) *shrug*
But yeah, lets see what creation rules will be set for those characters.

Alright, I've returned from deaths's door.

@Yuki: Fair enough, I'm alright with an unusually self-aware 11 year-old.

We'll stick with the creation rules as they were in Jade Regent so we have backward compatibility and any characters coming over from old to new don't require modification to match. I'm still poking around for the original set of build specifics and when I find them I'll repost. The Jade Regent rollout was very "casual" and things aren't necessarily where one would expect to find them.

No 3rd party stuff. I don't want to open those up and then need to adjudicate what is and isn't alright since I don't possess, or know about, any of the stuff.

A few things I'll mention here since I don't need the old creation rules for them:

Classes: Any except Summoner and Anti-Paladin (obviously). Your choice of chained or unchained if both versions exist. I'm fine with occult classes, but this may not be an AP where they shine, at least from what I've seen so far.

Races: I'm going to go with a slightly reduced version of the Player's Guide list: Core as well as aasimar, changeling, dhampir, and tiefling. Kitsune is grandfathered in from Jade Regent. Aasimar and Tiefling "subraces" can be chosen, but not those crazy variant racial ability tables.

We're using background skills.

Talene: I took a look at the character build you linked to. Although I'm not exactly sure what you're aiming for with it, how that parts come together to make the whole, it seems to me it can be still be done without having to use Spell-less Ranger? It's only 2 levels, and the only thing that seems unique to it is the "mugshot" ability? Or is that a Sentinel thing? I don't know what sentinel is.

Anyway, aside from Mugshot it seems it can be approximated by a few non-3P options, depending on what you want most from it. Mugshot is pretty cool, and I can see it being great for a campaign like CotCT or Hell's Rebels. But I just don't think it would find much use in Return.

I'm going to stick with Inari. I'll wait to see what the rest of the party looks like before I decide what changes to make to him.

Should I go ahead and redo Correna for 1st level?

Yep, you should.

@All: And just a quick reminder that only one person can select the campaign trait "Accidental Clone".

So...what do we have currently?

A fighter/mixed stuff from Storyteller?
Swashbuckler/Oracle from Inari?
Fighter/Sorcerer from Correna?

So 3xfullbab, 1xfull caster divine, 1xfull caster arcane, 1xmixed grab-bag of stuff.

While I really do kinda love the idea of playing as Lia's kid and even got GM approval, that would only really work if one of the others could be somewhat connected to her - a friend of the parents - or caretaker of her of sorts. In a vacuum, it is unlikely to make sense/work out(why is the kid tagging along with the group?).
Plus the overall distribution makes it...difficult. I don't really want to make the kid the skillmonkey searching for traps and doing party face. I could double-down on casting(similar to Yin - Dreamspun Sorcerer and Dark Tapestry Oracle) but there's the overlap with an Oracle and a Sorcerer already in.
I did consider going Summoner and contribute in combat that way, but Summoner is out - and something like Hunter not really working for what I want - Spiritualists Phantom could work but I don't really like the idea of killing a parent for the Phantom which is the most likely scenario.
Magical Child Vigilante would have been admittedly amusing but too much comedy relief/tongue in cheek...and sticking with support classes like bard would be too cliche.(and again provide skill mastery beyond what any of the adults can do).
So currently, I am once again torn between pushing through with the original idea of a young character or deviating from that path and taking Accidental Clone.
Mostly, I am currently torn between:
Lia&Ran Offspring: Oracle(Psychic Searcher, Lunar Mystery)|| either Paladin(Choosen One, Tempered Champion) or Psychic(with Dream or Rapport Discipline)
Accidental Clone: Brawler(Snakebite Striker)/Mesmerist

@Oracle: if allowed, the Child curse would be preferable for obvious reasons but that is [3PP] so I'd like to talk it over at least but will defer to GM judgement of course.

I'll have time this weekend to finally put together my revised Talene. I might just have her remain and play as an older version of herself or do a whole new character, if no one else wants to do Accidental Clone I will certainly do it.

Feel free shadow!
=)

I'll have time this weekend to finally put together my revised Talene. I might just have her remain and play as an older version of herself or do a whole new character, if no one else wants to do Accidental Clone I will certainly do it.

Hmmm, in that case I may play a different build, instead of Fighter on one side, Wizard instead...

This one dovetails nicely from a background perspective. I'll give it more thought tomorrow. May meld those two builds.

I'm going to drop Swashbuckler. I haven't been enjoying the way it plays. Going to go with Oracle/Sorcerer instead.

Three sorcerers!

If we all went with Hag bloodline we could form a Coven. :D

Do we roll initial gps? Or take the average? Or Max?

There's the situation Paradox.

If Talene was around, she could serve as the kind of caretaker, as an associate of Lia, that would allow her child to tag along and it kinda makes sense.

If Talene is not around, I'd need to default to option 2 of Accidental Clone, but then, the fact Storyteller took that is the reason Talene is not around in the first place.

-_-

Since Correna told Shadow to pick Accidental Clone, does that mean YOU are interested in the caretaker role?
Also, now we have 2 double-casters(Sorc/Wizard and Sorc/Oracle) - we MIGHT be a bit short on martial prowess...(plus that kinda locks me into Oracle/Paladin rather than Oracle/Psychic or we have 3 double-casters - I know last come last serve, but sending the one kid off to do frontline duty? ;) )

That also cuts out any skill-monkeys. A bad weakness.

Correna is designed to get more and more powerful in melee as she levels. Her spell-magic is mainly for utility and ranged combat abilities.

@Yuki = Sorry about the 'accidental clone' thing. I didn't see your earlier post on it, and I assumed others would speak up on their behalf if they wanted to try and claim it.

@Accidental Clone: It's fine, I guess I was ranting too long and you both missed that part ^_^
It's all good, I'm just looking at ways how to make things work, as those two traits are the only ones really appealing to me, so I would prefer to find a way to make it work.

@Correnapower: I know, Orc Bloodline works great for that. But a single melee frontliner with 2 casters...kinda still locks player 4 in a role as martial #2 rather than caster #3.

You are free-hand, and need one for casting, so it's unlikely you'll wield a reach weapon and go for shenanigans that give you half a dozen AoO's with 20 feet reach to provide area control. So half of them can get slaughtered by you, and the other half ignores you and rushes those juicy casters in the back :)

I'll jump in to say that, although I'm still getting familiar with the AP and haven't dived deeply in the question, this AP does look a bit deadlier than Jade Regent. Mathematically speaking I'm sure Paizo keeps things pretty close AP to AP in terms of CR challenges, but not all equal CR is the same and you'll probably not want to neglect martial options in favor of lots of casting classes.

It could be to your benefit in the late books I suppose. But you have to survive until the late books for that to make a difference. :)

Correna's updated mostly. I just need to finish spending her money.

I've changed her from being an outdoorsy type to a bookish one. She's fascinated by Thassilon and that's also her AP Trait for game.

I liked the description for Ashava so I switched Correna's worship to Ashava. It just made sense to me. She's kinda lonely as one of the few half-orcs in the area, and an orphan. Her friendship with Audrahni is based on thier shared worship of the Empyreal Lord.

No worries Yuki, you take the Accidental Clone and I will pick another Campaign Trait as I have not started working it out yet. Would you prefer to have Talene as an older veteran as a PC or as an NPC now living in Magnimar?

I could roll with the background for eitehr of the two charactersthough part of me does prefer Genevieva's background as I was excited to play her some time ago and the DM vanished before the Gameplay post was even set up.

My build will be a combo or Arcane and Martial but I should also have some decent number of skill points as I will have Rogue and Ranger as I progress. The build focuses on Dexterity based Melee which is why I think the Wizard build can work as I will nto be relying on armor anyhow.

Ah, storyteller, thats what I meant with the Paradox.
If I am playing Lia's kid, then one of the other PC's should have some kind of relation to either Lia or Ran, the parents.
Talene would have made a good candidate for that.
If there are no characters that qualify, THEN I would instead take the Accidental Clone. And there's the situation where, as the german saying goes, the dog bites it's own tail: If I am Sorshen, then there is no need for Talene but she could be around. If you are Sorshen, then you are not Talene but she would be needed as guardian of the young character/Lia's Kid.

Inari, by his personality and nature, is automatically disqualified for the guardian role. That means Correna or Genevieva could still work. But if you are Sorshen/accidental clone, then that could have happened a few years back - you could be a friend of Lia all the same and her child only know you the way you are now...

I'm probably missing something important in the Talene/Accidental Clone discussion, but just for the sake of clarification if it's needed, Talene can be the accidental clone.

Talene is still Talene, just with a different body. Or put a different way, a Shorshen clone character is certainly not Shorshen. Whether that remains true throughout the entire adventure is a different matter of course.

@Inari: I'll get a PM out to you a little while later today.

Ah, storyteller, thats what I meant with the Paradox.

If I am playing Lia's kid, then one of the other PC's should have some kind of relation to either Lia or Ran, the parents.
Talene would have made a good candidate for that.
If there are no characters that qualify, THEN I would instead take the Accidental Clone. And there's the situation where, as the german saying goes, the dog bites it's own tail: If I am Sorshen, then there is no need for Talene but she could be around. If you are Sorshen, then you are not Talene but she would be needed as guardian of the young character/Lia's Kid.

Inari, by his personality and nature, is automatically disqualified for the guardian role. That means Correna or Genevieva could still work. But if you are Sorshen/accidental clone, then that could have happened a few years back - you could be a friend of Lia all the same and her child only know you the way you are now...

Well I can always shift Gen's background to have met Lia in Magnimar (Lia will be there eventually) that would solve things I think.

@Puca: The thing is that Talene is an established character, a cleric with a certain personality. Turning her into the Accidental Clone locks those aspects of the build in.
The character Storyteller wanted for that was the double Arcane Whopper Sorcerer/Wizard.

Basically, I'm just trying to make sure a young character has some regular group member to stick with/tag along with. A reason not to be left behind. Correna or Gen both would have worked for that, if we establish they were friends of my characters parents.
There's even a very simple reason, as Lia has limited prophetic vision, she may have sought the friendship of a suitable guardian, knowing she would have a child and would have to leave it in custody of someone. So she might have been the one to actively search out Gen and befriend her, knowing she'll have a role to play in the future(which is now).

Let' do the Gen meets Lia as part of her Background and becomes (maybe as part of the story?) the Guardian of your young PC.

Then Gen is the Accidental Clone and she has that happen to her after she meets Lia but still retains her memories (I believe that is the case will need to re-read that again as I have the players guide at work and not at home).

My build is a bit out there:

Level 1 - Wizard 1 (Enchanter) / Spell Less Ranger 1
Level 2 - Wizard 2 / Spell Less Ranger 2
Level 3 - Wizard 3 / Sorcerer 1 (Destined Bloodline/Eldritch Scrapper)
Level 4 - Wizard 4 / Swashbuckler 1 (Inspired Blade)
Level 5 - Wizard 5 / Unchained Rogue 1
Level 6 - Wizard 6 / Unchained Rogue 2
Level 7 - Wizard 7 / Spell Less Ranger 3
Level 8 - Wizard 8 / Unchained Rogue 3
Level 9 - Wizard 9 / Spell Less Ranger 4

A Dexterity based Melee character as a Wizard I think works.

Thereafter I will probably do a Wizard Rogue combo. This is a merging of two PC's I really wanted to play neither of which I got to play. I do like Talene as a character but she is a bit boring :-)

After talking with DM Puka a bit, I've decided to retire Inari and make a new character for this game.

The gestalt combination of Warpriest and Shaman is one of my favorites, so I think i'll go with that. The build I have in mind is extremely versatile, so I can cover any party roles the group ends up needing (focusing primarily on melee and ranged damage, but I'll be able to heal, scout, track and make nature-skill checks too. The only thing I won't be doing is being a Face character).

So make whatever you want. I'll cover the rest.

Here's Inari 2.0 (now with 100% less Inari).

The background is changeable, as is the choice of religion. Gozreh just seemed like the best choice for a nature-y character. I'm willing to swap to any god that fits the game batter.

I forget was this a 20 or 25 point buy?

Ah! I forgot about digging that info out. I found it and here are the original creation guidelines with the new alterations included.

25 point buy with no stats below 8 or over 18 before racial modifiers.

Core as well as aasimar, changeling, dhampir, and tiefling. Kitsune is grandfathered in from Jade Regent. Aasimar and Tiefling "subraces" can be chosen, but not those crazy variant racial ability tables.

Classes are open except for Summoner, Antipaladin, and Gunslinger (Bolt Ace okay).
No third party stuff.

2 traits allowed, 1 must be a campaign trait.

Average starting wealth.

Excellent. Another half-orc! Storm-Shadow and Soulburn! Sounds like a combat-pairing waiting for a story! =)

What campaign trait did you take?

I think I'm going to take Scion of Legend, with Perception and Disable Device as my class skills. That will save me a feat.

Need to change the order in which I take levels but no matter, the above was just a guideline really!

Will have her done by the end of the week, getting close!

Excel does not translate well, eeesh.

I just need a few more languages (is Ancient Thassilon a valid choice?) and to buy equipment and hash out the background. Getting close but fading and need to be up really early tomorrow. So calling it quits for now.

Thassilonian certainly is an available language.

Now that the events in Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star have taken place, the Thassilonian Empire has become well known. A decent analogy might be the Ancient Egyptian craze that followed the opening of King Tut's tomb.

John Q Public has probably heard of it, but doesn't really know much of substance about it. Scholarship on the subject is now flourishing, unlike before when it was a kooky, fringy thing.

Without mass culture as an accelerator (no Runelords trading cards or sitcoms I'm sorry to say) what people really understand about the Thassilonian Empire is still vague and fairly non-specific, but the subject is an attention grabber and it would be no shock to learn there's an opera or two set during that time that has run in Korvosa.

Just checking in. We still good?
=)

As far as I know. :)

I've been prepping the 1st book and waiting to hear back on finalized characters.

It sounds like Lia is out sick right now, so she'll probably be taking some more time yet.

One thing mentioned in the Player's Guide, and I'll repeat it here. When thinking about backstories you'll want to have a reason for being in Roderic's Cove at least a few months. You don't have to be a long term resident or native, but to have sent sufficient time to know your way around and have connection to the community.

Can we say around March 1st by a starting date if we can't get there a little sooner?