Hello! This is a closed game, my sincere apologies.
Players, please check in once your character is completed/revised.
THE GAME:
Reign of Winter on Paizo.com. Maps on Google Drive. I'm hoping we can post 1/day, more at times if possible, with fewer on weekends (I go camping and backpacking, and everyone has fun times to go to.)
CHARACTER BUILD (or rebuild for Imendri, Andrea, Auric)
20 point buy. Nothing dumped below 8, pleeze.
Most races acceptable with explanation (please no drow, strix, svirf, etc)
2 Traits. 1 must be a Reign of Winter Campaign Trait. You cannot have two Campaign Traits. No Drawbacks. Forbidden Traits: Leadership and Tribal Scars (them Tribal Scars are too powerful), although other People of the North stuff is flavorful.
150 gp starting wealth.
See Below: Please read the Player's Guide and think about things you need in the Frozen North! Not that you've bought them yet. Some aren't things, like Favored Enemy. s
CHARACTER BACKGROUND:
-As we are re-booting, no items are carried over from Master of the Fallen Fortress (sorry). We'll say you gambled it or had it stolen (feel free to explain this, and feel free to explain your failure to join the Pathfinder Society. :D)
-Just so we're clear, that means 0XP gained from Master of the Fallen Fortress and no loot! :( Tis best for Adventure Path calibration.
-Please read the Player's Guide! For our three previous players, I'll give you a hook to be in Heldren, Taldor. Alternately, you are welcome to tweak your background and give yourself a tie to Heldren.
-Optional: for 1 free potion of your choice, give me the following info: Your ultimate goal as a character, and three NPC's your character is associated--one friend, one neutral, and one enemy.
"THIS CHARACTER SUX"
-previous players from MOTFF are welcome to tweak their character any way they want or start over (sounds like you love your characters, though)
-you will be allowed one complete character reboot upon attaining 2nd level.
-tweaks after that are at the GM's discretion. The objective is to have fun, so I don't want y'all to have to suffer through the AP with a character you don't like if you get tired of them after a few levels.
DURING PLAY
When rolling, be sure to add in your adjustments, like this:
I'll roll initiative and we'll do rounds with folks bolded to indicate if they can act. You can talk out of turn as long as it isn't a gigantic combat monologue.
I won't roll Perception or other skills unless I absolutely have to.
I'd love to have a loot tracker person. Leveling will be automatic based on location in the story, and not based on XP. Ain't got time for that.
If people have Hero Lab files, that's awesome. Otherwise I'll enter them in myself. Please track your expendables (and honestly!) :D
DUE DATE
When you have your character sheet done/redone on Paizo.com, with background and optional info, let me know. I'd love to see them by...Friday the 13th. ;)
Checking in.
Checking in! I've got a HL file, just let me know where to send it.
1. She wants vengeance on the White Witches for her sister's (Braegan's mother) death. She dreams of strangling several of them with her hair.
2. She wants to master Time (read that as level up enough to learn all her Patron spells).
Neutral - Skoraeus, a Stone Giant that owes Mahb a small favor for services rendered.
Enemy - The 'Witch of the Woods' (in the Gungnir forest on the western border of Irrisen).
Okay, still fleshing out backstory and concept, but I have these, at least...
• Friend(s): In addition to Aunt Mahb, Braegan loves the family who raised him (Brandig and Marg Hightown and daughters Andice [22], Lairn [18], and Birgitte [16]; all of whom he is highly protective of). His closest Heldren friend is Cole Harrn, a big, brawny blacksmith apprentice about his own age.
• Neutral: Most of Heldren. Braegan enjoys a bit of celebrity in the small town due to his “evening gig” singing at the Stoat many evenings, especially around holidays or special events. Most people like him, and everyone knows he’s adopted. Most know he’s pretty close to his Aunt Mahb, the crazy hag who lives out in the woods.
• Enemy: Locally, Braegan’s got a rivalry going with one of the other local youths. Merrick Cross, he’s kind of the alpha male of the young men in Heldren. Athletic, handsome, and well-liked. He’s a good enough guy, but there’s a competitive rivalry that always tends to turn sour between him and Braegan. Braegan is frustrated that Merrick is so athletically gifted, and Merrick is frustrated that Braegan competes for the girls’ attention despite being a skinny outsider. It’s only come to blows twice, both when they were kids. The first time ended with Merrick soundly drumming Braegan into submission. The second time, Merrick was once again winning when Braegan’s power manifested, and the fight ended with Merrick being rushed to Heldren’s healer to treat the burns. It’s been an uncomfortable rivalry that always stopped short of violence ever since. Braegan knows he’ll lose and Merrick (in addition to being weary of being burned again) is a good enough guy to know that fighting someone with Braegan’s physical handicap (the burns) is unfair.
On a grander scale, Braegan knows enough from the stories his Aunt Mahb have told him over the years to suspect there is someone up north who killed his mother and tried to kill him. He’d like to put a face and name to this mystery person … and force them to confront what they’ve done, if possible.
I'll begin looking for options for the freebie potion (assuming you're good with my Goals/NPC's).
Also, it's worth noting that I'm happy to play the proactive/reactive rolls however you and the group want to, but I'm totally fine with Axolotl rolling those reactive/passive rolls (like Initiative, Perception, etc). That can be a momentum life-saver sometimes in PbP, but I understand if people want to keep those in the hands of the players.
My my 2 cents.
I think I mentioned I'd roll initiative, and I may passively roll Perception in some cases. Otherwise, roll away. It's fun to roll one's own skills and flex them.
You two may want to reconcile your goals, since wouldn't Mahb know the answer to Braegan's question? :)
Otherwise I like them. A little extra fluff never hurts.
Maybe she just hasn't shared what she knows fully. She's a cantankerous old boot, you know. :D
And I'd suggest that even if she has all the answers, she knows Braegan well enough to know that he's reckless enough to try to rush up there and take on the whole of Irresen. So keeping him ignorant was keeping him safe (maybe)?
And cool. Glad you like them. I like how the story is shaping up.
I think I mentioned I'd roll initiative, and I may passively roll Perception in some cases. Otherwise, roll away. It's fun to roll one's own skills and flex them.
No problem. Just giving my thoughts; I'm happy either way.
Also, Axolotl, do you want me to send you my HeroLab file? For convenience?
Oops, posted as a Hell's Rebel...
Sure, send away!
Cool. PM me the email address you want me to send it to. :)
Mahb left the North well over a decade ago, when Braegan was quite young and quite possibly before Braegan & Family ran into serious trouble... so she may not have the answers. Though she might have a shrewd guess or two. She certainly wouldn't let Braegan go running off to do the investigation himself - especially if the baddies were formidable (a good assumption if his Mom was a skilled witch). Instead, Mahb would do her own clandestine research (via spells and contacts) to ferret out the guilty parties before acting or telling Braegan.
If we need to massage the numbers and dates a bit, we certainly can, but I don't think the spirit of the backgrounds clash at all. We were fairly intentional to make sure they jived.
Always open to tweaking to make it better, though.
How old is Braegan?
I'm thinking of him somewhere around 20. I could add or remove a few years, if it cements the story better. I want him fairly young-ish, but not a kid.
20 works, I think. Axo wants to avoid age effects at creation, so I'm taking some liberties to make Mahb appear as a hag without actually being one. I think, by the rules, Mahb could be no older than 34 or she'd suffer the effects of middle age. Since her Patron is Time, I'm thinking she looks ravaged and old as the price she pays for knowledge (kind of like an Oracle's curse) but she isn't that old and/or time effects her looks but not her abilities - so she is a 'spry' hag.
But assuming your Mom was 15 when she had you, then Mahb could be your aunt if she was your mother's younger sister. If Mahb the left the northlands roughly 15 years (when you were 5) you'd likely remember her a bit. And then at some point after that, your family in trouble, mom got killed, and you fled south. That sound about right to you?
I'll pull a few years off Braegan to make it work a bit better. If he's 17 or 18, that means his mother could be more like 16-18 when she had him. Which feels a bit better.
It also helps justify his Wisdom penalty. Foolishness, naivety, and indestructibility of youth, and all that.
Two other options:
1. You stay 20. Your mom could be older and the age between the sisters is a bit bigger.
2. With Axo's waiver, I make Mahb a bit older (upping 'middle age' beyond 35 for me) without triggering the middle age changes.
Either way is fine with me.
I'll go with 18. It feels like a good adjustment. If you still want to fiddle with Mahb's age, feel free.
More fiddling with her age will hinge on Axo's judgment. For the moment, I'll have to make her 34 to fit the rules, so she'll be your Mom's younger sister by a number of years.
Checking in.
Magda - Neighboring tribe wise woman, often had to adjudicate over disputes/ruckuses/fights in which Imendri was involved. Didn’t buy the excuse of “eets ruff hows ink, eets fun! Noffink eets meen bat, neffer goink to happen again, eets eh promise.” Typically not a fan of him, but saw his potential and helped him along occasionally in his faith, in exchange for his strong-man abilities, even if just for farming/gathering/menial labor.
Raffi al-Kaam - Half-Elf fighter from the Hold of Belkzen, spent most of his life fighting Orcs and thinks highly of himself. Immediately hated Imendri upon moving into the area of Imendri’s tribe, and even attacked him from range on hunting trips. Likely has levels in Rogue, or at least the NPC class “Expert” with a focus on speed and light weapons. He’s a selfish, chaotic piece of s#!!, and carries a grudge against Imendri for no other reason than that he probably wants to be the only tough Half-Elf anywhere he goes. Imendri will likely have to deal with it eventually, but he’s a big typically soft guy who tries to avoid him at the risk of possibly murdering the a!@*~&& if he doesn’t.
I'd prefer not to fiddle with age ranges. :) Maybe Mahb spent some time in the Salton Sea area cooking meth? :D
Imendri--not Gozreh? Doesn't matter as druids' abilities aren't contingent on whom they worship.
A bunch of Northern Ancestried folk up in here. :)
It's what all the cool kids are doing this year. ;P
Originally I'd made this character a rare Half-Elf from the Realms of the Mammoth Kings, but then our campaign was in Absalom, hahaha. He's a big dude, much bigger than his slight, Elven father. His mother, however, is around 6'3" or so, and she was a small one in her family. Imendri's a big boy with kinda big ears.
Turns out, Imendri gets to go back home <3
Our ranger has the flu, our fighter is a busy bee, and our other player is whipping up an investigator. Not sure everyone will make a Friday the 13th sheet review date, but that's ok, eh? Winter waits.
Absalom was good fun, though! :D
Oh, and Imendri, don't forget: a blunt weapon, a reach weapon, a ranged weapon. ;) Well, barbarians hardly need ranged most of the time.
Eh. If we need to hit at range, we'll just whip Imendri around. At his height, he counts as a reach weapon.
Oof. Sorry folks is busy/sick. I'm fine waiting. I do need to figure out what to do with Braegan's gear.
What to buy a kid who doesn't like to carry stuff in his burnt hands?
I have a hay wain, Brae. And as we're family, you can certainly toss your gear in there... jes' don't knock over my cauldron.
So you're saying our sweet-ass ride is taken care of, huh?
I couldn't afford mithral spinners on the old-timey wagon wheels but, yeah, we've got a stylin' ride. :)
Lol. Excellent. That'll certainly simplify what Braegan has to account for.
I'm basically using it to carry Mahb's portable alchemy lab - so there is plenty of room for other gear.
So she'll be actively looking to get the best Headband of Vast INT possible, take Improved Natural Attack at an appropriate level (assuming you rule she can do it), and maybe even develop a version of Fox's Cunning as a Witch spell (since it isn't on the list currently).
Thanks for your patience, y'all. Our fighter should be able to post soon, and I'm hoping our ranger is feeling better.
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This is getting some attention from me tomorrow morning, promise.
Cool. Looking forward to it.
Guys, I'm going to be mostly offline Saturday through Monday. I doubt play with kick off in that time... but bot me as needed.
What with Andrea's character still down with the flu (and doing Extra Life?), we will have zero chances of kickoff before then. And yay, Auric! Just get them traits sorted out, and what not.
I think I have gear squared away. I'm so tempted to buy him a dog with the remaining gold. :D
there is absolutely no mechanical benefit ... just fun.
Also, Axo, you never PM'd me your email address you want me to send the HeroLab file to. Let me know if you still want to do that.
Yeah, me too (on the HL file mail addy).
Opening this up to recruitment!
We have a spot open as our ranger cannot join the game.
Right now we have:
Mahb - White Haired Witch
Braegan - Flame Oracle
Name TBD - Empiricist Investigator (sheet forthcoming)
Imendri - Barbarian multiclassing to Druid
Auric - Fighter
If you want to join this crew, post some crunch and fluff for consideration. I'd like to fill this slot by 11/22 so we can get a post in before (USA) Thanksgiving.
dot with interest. I'm thinking Zen Archer Monk. Thinking a rework of this character.
I'm gonna put in a dot for now. I may be in too many PbP's already, but if I think I can handle another I'll update this character's fluff and crunch to be Reign of Winter appropriate. How would you feel about a witchguard ranger?
Hi, Mahb. ;D
Opening this up to recruitment!
We have a spot open as our ranger cannot join the game.
Right now we have:Mahb - White Haired Witch
Braegan - Flame Oracle
Name TBD - Empiricist Investigator (sheet forthcoming)
Imendri - Barbarian multiclassing to Druid
Auric - FighterIf you want to join this crew, post some crunch and fluff for consideration. I'd like to fill this slot by 11/22 so we can get a post in before (USA) Thanksgiving.
Are you looking mostly for some extra casting or for some face-smashing?
Zen Archers are always great. Actually, our ranger was the...uh...ranged combatant, so that's nice.
Witchguard ranger is quite appropriate and flavorful.
With five classes kind of covering everything except bard/skald (and that is not a hint), I don't really have a role in mind. So, smashers, casters, buffers, debuffers, faces, all work. I would say skill monkey's covered with the investigator, but you never know!
Oh, I didn't list it, but I'm not too fond of gunslingers or summoners. I also didn't write: no evil alignments, and tortured gothic lone wolf brooding orphan characters tend not to thrill. :) (and dhampirs are way difficult to heal.)
Thanks for the interest! If I get a bunch of submissions, I may curtail the due date for crunch/fluff.
its obviously going to have to be reshaped but what do you think of this as a general backstory for my character(background can also be found on the alias profile)?
As he grew older he spent more time away from his home and started to roam the streets. The streets of Magnimar were no place for a child to roam unattended but he proved he could hold his own with his fists. This ability to defend himself attracted the attention of a local man who helped him hone his skills and started featuring Viemos in gladitorial fights through out Varisia. This is where his fame started to grow through out the land.
This is also where he met his first love, Aliya, a beautifully stunning young woman. She to would roam the streets but unlike him she didn't have a family to go home to. So he took it upon himself to be there for her when ever she needed. Many years were spent with his love and fiting in gladitorial events and he was making a rather good living. Then it happened.
Aliya became pregnant and everything was going normally until that faitful night when she went into birth. There were complications with the birth and unfortunatly Aliya as well as Viemos's unborn daughter, Talea, died in the birthing process. Viemos turned to his mentor, teacher, and promoter for support but it was learned that the man was only interested in the money that Viemos broght in and cared very little for him beyond that. Next he turned to his family for support in his darkest moment but there was no support to be had. Many of his brothers and sisters, especially those of half blood, had felt betrayed by him when he left. Very little support was ever given to them from the money he was making and they felt it was unfair that his mother had to support all of them with out much help from the much richer Viemos.
Feeling there was nothing left for him in Magnimar and having lost the one true thing that made that city tollerable he left and tried to get as far from it as he could. Unfortunatly on his meager savings from the fights he only made it as far as Riddleport. It was here that he found the temple of Iori and rededicated his life to the Master of Masters.
He spent the next 3 years in isolation totaly dedicating himself to the lessons the priests at the temple taught him and working through the pain of losing his family. It took a lot of hard work but eventually the priests felt he had straightened his life out enlough to give him a gift. They had in their possession a magical bow. They gave it to him and trained him how to use it in battle.
On the night of his unborn daughters third birthday Viemos had spent most of the day training, trying his hardest to channel the anger he felt at his old self for letting his family die and turning his back on his other family. It was then that his life changed forever once more.
The bow spoke to him as he was alone. And more disturbing to him was the fact that the voice sounded just like his departed Aliya. He jumped as he heard it the first time, his blood running cold. He looked around the room frantically trying to find the source of the voice. It spoke again and this time thrummed in his hand. He dropped the boy and ran away screaming and saught out the head priest.
The head priest let Viemos know that he had unlocked the bows true power and that this was a true blessing from Iori and nothing to be feared. He then tasked Viemos to seek out adventure and spread the word of Iori where ever he went. "The time has come for you to go out my son. Be one of Iori's priests in the streets and seek out evil. He has gifted you with a wonderous item and you must now use it to bring glory to him"
That night was 10 years ago and he had wondered all over galorian spreading the word of Iori and defeating evil with his bow, which he has named after his late departed wife. Word has started to spread about the monk who speaks to his bow and the wonderful power he weilds with it and his fame once again starts to build but this time it brings glory to the Gods.