From girl to lady - What makes a Princess? (Inactive)

Game Master JonGarrett

Well given that my character would be her grandmother this would be very interesting.

My character would have no romantic interest in her. XD

You never do, Rednal.

And yay, Harems.

Oh... I'll just make my own house then. Feel free to use it even if I'm not chosen. What in the way of natural dangers exists on the island. You mentioned orcs? Is most of the island under the control of the kingdom? What about having some race living underground? Orcs, Drow, Kobolds or Goblins?

Legally, yes, but think Standard Fantasy Kingdom. The various monsters are all around and accounted for in one form or another, as the island has large expanses the Kingdom can't maintain an easy hold on. Plus the occasional sea raiders.

Nope, not a problem. And I have no issue with homosexual relations, so it's possible for love to happen.

That is good to hear! May you tell me a bit about the princess, so I can tailor alex accordingly?

Also, may I take the Wizard dwarf favored class bonus instead of the standard Incanter and Artisan one? Or maybe a +1% discount on crafting stuff?

Instead of spending a trait on it, may I instead have a feat that makes it so that I can, at-will, use create to create things as if my caster level was half that it actually is Without spending a spell point? If that's too high, how about 1/3 or 1/4th my level?

Are there any other nations nearby that would fit a dwarf princess, besides the noble houses? Maybe any nearby nations that would fit the idea of a more academic dwarf.

May I request the Double Wand Wielder feat from Complete Arcane (3.5 book)? And maybe an alternate crafters art, kinda like the consumable one, but for wands- something like using an extra charge to increase the caster level, and increasing the maximum level for wands by three at level 9 or something?

Can I apply the Valet familiar archetype to my homunculus familiar?

May I request a craftsman technique to permit me to spend points from my enhancement pool to cast spells from wands without having to expend a charge? If not, may I request Eternal Wands, and Schemas, to permit my character to have a slightly more enduring capability with their magic items?

May I request a Dedicated wright?

I only ask if I am selected, someone please pick up Restoration when we get to that level. Or help me find a Jealous Runeforged item. I have a feeling since my gimmick is I die and come back I am gonna be a few levels down.

And finally...well, as a GM, I'd appreciate you limiting your diplomacy a little. This is a social game, obviously, and I don't want to crank the DC up so high to meet you that no one else can make it. On the other hand, I've been totally expecting someone to ruin the idea of DC with a Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate score somewhere in the stratosphere, and have planned for it accordingly. If this was a dungeon crawl I'd be expecting AC and to Hit that only gods could touch, and here I expect social skills. So my suggestion would be to limit yourself a bit, but don't get overly concerned.

Haha, woops. This probably applies to my character a bit too closely. I can propose an alternative character if you find the current one too focused on the social trifecta?

Also, when are you closing application? I wanted to have everything done by tonight, but then my wife booked us out for dinner.

It sounds like you'll give no benefit to boosting social skills, just hurt the rest of the party. I find that kinda odd for a social game. It'll basically punish us for selecting any feats, abilities or items that affect social things. Then again, I certainly don't want the game challenges either. It's a hard balance to strike, which is why I asked my question in the first place...

I think he more or less was talking about minmaxing those three skills. Like taking your three feats be Skill Focus (X)
And then using the 10500 to buy masterwork tools to boost those as well, etc.

I think he more or less was talking about minmaxing those three skills. Like taking your three feats be Skill Focus (X)

And then using the 10500 to buy masterwork tools to boost those as well, etc.

Then using Bardic performance boosters to increase your Diplomacy to the 30s.

Also, as for Restoration, that's why my character's here- Buffing, buffing, and some healing.

Also, there's a severe lack of dwarven women avatars. Paizo! Show more respect to the lasses!

And finally...well, as a GM, I'd appreciate you limiting your diplomacy a little. This is a social game, obviously, and I don't want to crank the DC up so high to meet you that no one else can make it. On the other hand, I've been totally expecting someone to ruin the idea of DC with a Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate score somewhere in the stratosphere, and have planned for it accordingly. If this was a dungeon crawl I'd be expecting AC and to Hit that only gods could touch, and here I expect social skills. So my suggestion would be to limit yourself a bit, but don't get overly concerned.

Of the social skills, I did limit myself some. Bluff and Sense Motive are pretty good, but I didn't max out diplomacy and intimidate. With the +10 adder for shapeshifting, disguise will be good. I deliberately stayed away from the circlet of persuasion.

I did have to take deceitful as a prereq for cunning caster. If you let me do it without the prereq, I'll drop deceitful.

As for romance, it's one of Kiyomi's specialties. Oh, she won't be competing for the princess's hand - they're just friends.

My social skills are not embarrassing, but nothing to write home about. That said, after glancing at a few other characters, I'm a bit worried about my "tear off your face with a chainsword" potential compared to other characters, so I'm ready to tone that down if requested.

I won't be romancing anyone, nor am I particularly amazing at social skills. I'm just hoping PCs/NPCs don't try mind controlling me using bluff and diplomacy.

I wouldn't worry about being combat OP; at least a few people need to be able to have some nifty fighting tricks.

if it's cool with you, I'm going to keep the regular spell casting method...i've looked at the sphere method...i am intrigued by it, i just am not 100% comfortable with it yet.

oh and my character concept is a bodyguard type that offers the occasional insight to the princess....not smotheringly so, serious enough about his job, but enlightened enough to allow her to make decisions on her own...

I started making a summary. I only got to the page 3, and I think I missed some things (I feel like Ellara had crunch). This is already 11 competing for four slots, and I know page 4 has even more submissions.

I only ask if I am selected, someone please pick up Restoration when we get to that level.

Don't you worry about that grandma, with me around, dying will be a feat in and of itself.

Christaph would actually be much more prone to romantic attraction to young grandma, as they are actually of similar age though both look young.

All of my social skills are good but I get a penalty for dealing with non elans because of my racial superiority complex XD

JohnnyCat, from me you only have to worry about literal actual mind control. ;)

EDIT: Actually Bene Gesserit whether or not we are chosen, can I have permission to include you in my backstory?

Sure that works for me. Bene is very old, its just 600 years she has been in the same nation. Who knows what she was up to before that. ^.^ gotta love immortals.

I would hope to see a certain minimum competency on social skills, because it opens up many options.

In D&D and Pathfinder, people usually choose their plans based on what the worst characters can do. Especially in PBP. If the group needs to retrieve an item from MacGuffin Manor, they usually bash their way in. That way a bunch of people aren't sitting on their asses for months while the stealthy people do a creepy-crawly.

Having played in a stealth game, it opens up many opportunities for the type of play you don't often see in general games.

This would be another opportunity. Not every encounter can be socialed, but by having everybody be at least decent, then we can schmooze our way through many encounters. If we have one guy who is stuck with a bluff of +2, then we either need to split the party or go back to bashing our way through things.

Sure that works for me. Bene is very old, its just 600 years she has been in the same nation. Who knows what she was up to before that. ^.^ gotta love immortals.

Ok cool, Christaph would have known you when you were a child before you were queen, about 60 years ago.

I'm assuming that you are in a new form now. So while only 60, Christaph is now also an immortal.

Bene has been in three forms in the past 60 years. Human, Halfling, Human by luck of the rolls. So he would know her from her human lifetime as queen before becoming a halfling then. She would have looked 20ish when she took that form.

Hey, what house is Christaph from? It could be an intresting rivalry if martyear and another group member are of the same house. A bit of a rivalry.

Fearcypher here.

This is my character submission. my stats and background are in my bio.
If any of my backstory doesn't agree with you Jon, let me know and I'll change it.

Sorry the fluff took so long to get written up haven't had much time to write recently.

Reason to search for the princess: She is his pupil. He feels responsible for her and respects the value she has to the nation. He is driven to make her a perfect leader, with the secret goal of turning her into an Elan if she is worthy and establishing an immortal monarch on the throne of Ambervale, feeling he missed his chance to do so with Bene, as he had not known at the time that she was immortal, nor had he yet become an Elan.

Appearance: Average height and slim build. He has short dark hair and blue eyes, though they often glow and are pupiless. He has white markings on his whole body including his face that glow with energy when he uses his magic. He usually wears dark blue or black arcane robes with a hood. See ref images

Hey, what house is Christaph from? It could be an intresting rivalry if martyear and another group member are of the same house. A bit of a rivalry.

Christaph was actually a commoner when he was born but eventually given titles and nobility as a ward of the Royal family House Archaos.

Hey folks! Just to let you guys know, Matt does have a couple of Teamwork feats, namely Outflank and Paired Opportunists. Thankfully, as an Eldritch Guardian, he does have someone to work with him on using these feats, but it'll definitely be beneficial to others to take advantage of this opportunity as well, particularly those of the rogue variety.

Heh, no chance I'll take them any time soon. I have SOOO many feats I want. If going gestalt Fighter/Fighter was a thing, I'd be sorely tempted.

JonGarrett wrote:

Nope, not a problem. And I have no issue with homosexual relations, so it's possible for love to happen.

That is good to hear! May you tell me a bit about the princess, so I can tailor alex accordingly?

Also, may I take the Wizard dwarf favored class bonus instead of the standard Incanter and Artisan one? Or maybe a +1% discount on crafting stuff?

Instead of spending a trait on it, may I instead have a feat that makes it so that I can, at-will, use create to create things as if my caster level was half that it actually is Without spending a spell point? If that's too high, how about 1/3 or 1/4th my level?

Are there any other nations nearby that would fit a dwarf princess, besides the noble houses? Maybe any nearby nations that would fit the idea of a more academic dwarf.

May I request the Double Wand Wielder feat from Complete Arcane (3.5 book)? And maybe an alternate crafters art, kinda like the consumable one, but for wands- something like using an extra charge to increase the caster level, and increasing the maximum level for wands by three at level 9 or something?

Can I apply the Valet familiar archetype to my homunculus familiar?

May I request a craftsman technique to permit me to spend points from my enhancement pool to cast spells from wands without having to expend a charge? If not, may I request Eternal Wands, and Schemas, to permit my character to have a slightly more enduring capability with their magic items?

May I request a Dedicated wright?

OK, let's see...

Let's keep Favoured Class Bonuses as they are. Sometimes they suck a little, but that's part of playing that class.

I'm very nervous about allowing large items to be made at will and for free, even if it's only temporary. I can think of a few ways I could mis-use that ability.

There are likely some independent Dwarf clans around.

I think I'll say no to the Double Wand Wielder and Crafter's Art.

You can take Valet on a Homunculus.

Part of the idea behind Spheres is that you should retain some ability regardless of what your points are. You can re-fluff it as firing from a stave or wand, if you like.

It sounds like you'll give no benefit to boosting social skills, just hurt the rest of the party. I find that kinda odd for a social game. It'll basically punish us for selecting any feats, abilities or items that affect social things. Then again, I certainly don't want the game challenges either. It's a hard balance to strike, which is why I asked my question in the first place...

Honestly, I don't think a party would find it any more fun to know that there social skills won't matter in a social game, because one player has already beaten the DC just by showing up and posting. I do have some ideas for dealing with super high skill checks, but it'll make my life a lot simpler if people don't try to min-max this one too badly.

NOTICE

Applications will be open until 23.59 on Monday the 8th GMT. I will be announcing the players later that evening, with a little luck, or possibly Tuesday depending on how much I feel like napping.

How does one gain spheres? Do you just choose the thematic ones?

Also comments or critiques on my character JG?

You gain Spheres by spending Magic Talents on them. You get those when you first gain the casting class feature, then more as your caster level goes up. ^^ It's fairly straightforward.

You gain Spheres by spending Magic Talents on them. You get those when you first gain the casting class feature, then more as your caster level goes up. ^^ It's fairly straightforward.

Ok, do you then have to spend talents on powers within the sphere or do you have them all to use based on the stipulations of the specific power?

Each talent is a selection. So if you buy the divination slhere you get the base powers, then you have to spend another talent if you want an additional power like forsight.

Alright, let's get this crunch underway. Just posting for the moment with the profile so I can get back here a little easier.

Let's buckle some swash.

ahh ill go with the sphere system....might as well learn on the job

Well, you have several days to learn, and the basic rules are only about 1500 words or so. It's simply finding out what each Sphere can do that takes time, but the names are a pretty solid summary of each of them. If you're surprised by anything in Destruction I'll be a little sad.

Hey Jon, is it alright if I have one of my classes use the sphears system and the other use normal casting?

There's even a prestiege class for such a character.

Man, Spheres is just so friggen cool! I wish I could reconcile it with Alchemy, but Vancian casting honestly just fits better with the flavor of Alchemy. Besides, there isn't really another class that fits Matt's whole "natural talent and intelligence" thing, so I have to stick with the normal. Another game, and I'll be thrilled to work with the concept!

But I don't wanna learn the new system. I am all nature hippy who punches things.

I love watching people get converted. XD

And yeah, sadly, there's no real way to do Sphere Alchemy. Not yet, at least. o_O Maybe someday, or if you reaaaaaaaaally buckled down hard on the create-your-own-flavor aspect...

I don't promise to switch to Spheres, but I promise to take a look. ;)

I don't know if it'll interact well with the Phantom's "Deliver touch spells" ability, though.

Actually gonna be my first time using the Sphere system, looking forward to seeing how it goes.

If I get selected, that is.

There are plenty of Touch-range Sphere effects. ^^

Yup! If anything, the ability to deliver touch spells all day long should help.

This is unrelated to my submission, but there seem to be a lot of spheres experts here.

If an Incanter trades feats for customization, what level does he get the customization points is? Can a single level dip in Incanter give up all feat progression for 5 points right then; like 5 domains for the cost of one level?

I believe so, but they'll all be level 1 domains.

There are more than a few domains that are useful right at level one, being either static or WIS dependent. Darkness, Liberation, Luck, Travel, etc.

Not bad for a level dip, methinks.

The text is:

Cleric Domains: (1 specialization point) You gain the powers and abilities associated with one cleric domain of your choice. This does not grant domain spells. Use your casting ability modifier in place of Wisdom when determining the power of your domains. You may take this specialization multiple times. Each time it is taken, gain a different domain.

...So technically yes, although I'd say the GM has the right to impose a limit (typically 2, to match with what other classes get). XD

Man, Spheres is just so friggen cool! I wish I could reconcile it with Alchemy, but Vancian casting honestly just fits better with the flavor of Alchemy. Besides, there isn't really another class that fits Matt's whole "natural talent and intelligence" thing, so I have to stick with the normal. Another game, and I'll be thrilled to work with the concept!

There's an investigator archetype in the Divination Sphere Open Beta, which grants full caster level for the Divination Sphere.

The text is:

...So technically yes, although I'd say the GM has the right to impose a limit (typically 2, to match with what other classes get). XD

Yeah- Dipping incanter is about on par with dipping cleric in third edition. But a lot of the classes are very easy to dip, granting a lot of their features at level one. Hedgewitch grants Versatile Performance at level one, which is decent enough.

---Stuff for the DM---

Let's keep Favoured Class Bonuses as they are. Sometimes they suck a little, but that's part of playing that class.

I'm very nervous about allowing large items to be made at will and for free, even if it's only temporary. I can think of a few ways I could mis-use that ability.
There are likely some independent Dwarf clans around.
I think I'll say no to the Double Wand Wielder and Crafter's Art.
You can take Valet on a Homunculus.
Part of the idea behind Spheres is that you should retain some ability regardless of what your points are. You can re-fluff it as firing from a stave or wand, if you like.

Alright- While I am disappointed, I am willing to concede the FCB to you- However, I would argue that it's slightly worse than the other options available (+1/6th a item creation feat or an artisan talent). A permanant, quite powerful limited in quantity (Bonus feats) vs The Dwarf Wizard FCB, +200 gp crafted per day, is a bonus on something that, while difficult to increase, is also a renewable resource- Time is worth a sizable amount, but it is still near-infinite in most situations.

While creating large items is certainly possible, I’ll be level 8 at that time if we go 1/2 casting, and level 12 if we go 1/3rd. As it is, how does this look:

Mental Forger:

You may reduce the spell point cost of the create power of the creation sphere by one by creating an object as if your caster level was a third your actual caster level.

This means, next level, I can create medium objects- Currently, I can craft only small objects without increasing my caster level.

Current idea is to slightly alter arcadia, introducing a small dwarven kingdom there who, under her father’s rule, went from raiders to very prosperous traders, trading things that the Arcadians have no use for, for a fairly massive profit, while also steadily growing in being known as excellent crafters and shipbuilders, building some of the few ships who could bear the journey. Bella is the daughter of John Belle, the king of the mountainhome, who, in his youth at the young age of 20, was the one to guide their country into prosperity over the last 150 years.

Thank you for letting me use a Valet Homoculus, I can do with no two-wand-weilder. Sad about the crafters art, but I don’t need to worry about that stuff until around level 9, where I’ll have to rely on scrolls for regular spellcasting. (I don’t like expendable items) As it is, I don’t really want the +1/2 damage bonus- Instead, may I request that either the creator’s focus benefit (+1/2 level rounds you don’t have to concentrate on your created item), or to swap the healing and damage benefits level obtained?

While the fact that spheres is meant to last all day, to be honest, it’s a combination of not wanting to Nova and generally not liking consumable items that much. I really just kinda don’t want to spend my gold on too many consumables, combined with the fact that all of my talents will be spent on abilities in the Creation sphere, which, without the above feat, might not be useful.

More requests:
I’d like to request a slightly modified Forgemaster archetype as an incanter's specialization-

(2 specialization points) Gain the Runeforger class feature of the Forgemaster Cleric. At level 5, gain the Master Smith class feature. At level 1, if you have the Creation sphere, gain Exquisite Detail as a bonus talent. At level 3, gain the greater destroy and repair talent as a bonus talent. At level 5, gain the Potent Alteration talent as a bonus talent, if you have the creation sphere.

May I request for two drawbacks to add the Thought and Emotion components (From Occult Adventures) to my spells?

Well, you have several days to learn, and the basic rules are only about 1500 words or so. It's simply finding out what each Sphere can do that takes time, but the names are a pretty solid summary of each of them. If you're surprised by anything in Destruction I'll be a little sad.

Yes it's the time it takes to learn the various spheres that I'm worried about. I won't feel comfortable choosing any of them until I know what they actually do rather than simply the themes..

Well, I imagine I am fashionable-late to this party but I shall put my character into running.

Name: Lukas Shipwright, House Garesh
Race: Male Human
Alignment: CG
Class: godling (clever)/Ranger (freebooter)
Backstory: Lukas Shipwright was raised as a ward within House Garesh, where he really took to sea with gusto. Many remark Lukas was born with sea legs. His handsome looks, diplomatic outlook, and rapier wit serves him and House Garesh well. He wears many hats, depending on what House Garesh needs.
Yet, few within House Garesh knw Lukas's true origin, for you see it, Lukas eventually found he was the illegitimate son of House Garesh's patriarch and Besmara, the goddess pirate queen.

Personality: Witty, handsome, urbane in matters of court, but jovial and riotious on the sea.
Trait: Militia
Sheet: later

A question regarding the Spheres of Power system:

Would a character gestalting two caster classes have one set of powers totalling the features of the two, or would they function as per "Multiple Traditions"?