GM Hector's Shattered Star (Inactive)

Game Master LordHector

Also, your background is something similar to the relationship between Rocket and Sweet Pea in SuckerPunch, which in my opinion was one of the more interesting aspects of the movie (though there were many).

Devon, thinking of any archetypes for your gunslinger? I myself am a fan of both the Mysterious Stranger (a.k.a. the Man with No Name) and the Pistolero (because dual wielding pistols is awesome). And a negative on the advanced firearms. I'm perfectly cool with firearms in my fantasy, but when we start going into 6-shooters and shotguns, I think we're getting a little carried away.

I like Pistolero and I had to go Mysterious Stranger to keep the Charisma trend intact :p Plus they overlap in an interesting way so I took both.

No prob on the advanced, I just wanted to establish what feats and skills I might need to take down the line.

I think I have everything hammered out I should have everything up real soon.

Soon as my copy arrives, I should be ready to get this going.

PDF for Varisia gets released late today - I'll double check it for extra bits and then I should be able to button up my character as well.

Are there traits in the Varisia book?

Hector: How do you feel about Rich Parents trait? I normally wouldn't be that person but I have to craft all my own weapons so...

On the crafting front can I use any of my starting GP to craft before game start? This has been something DMs IME vary on.

I think I've got my concept down. I just need to put it in Hero Lab and get the stats up. It'll be Sunday before I can get to that, though.

Devon, what aspects of our background write-ups would you wanna collaborate on? For example, since you are writing her as a gunslinger, I thought I would have him want to follow in his big sister's footsteps and be a ranged combatant when he is struck with the clouded vision, throwing his entire plan of where he's going off.

I'm not as big a stickler on that trait as I know a lot of GM's are, primarily because it'll become meaningless after a few levels. Also, it fits your background. Go ahead.

I've gotten around halfway through with a background for Gideon. I'll post it when I'm done tomorrow after work and we can tweak it from there, Devon. That sound good?

yeah sounds good

Scratch that - PDFs got delayed a week. I'll wrangle up a character sheet and profile and get it on here later today.

Background will be pretty rough - but I just bought the Magnimar setting book so I'll try and build in some local flavor.

Space for another dwarf paladin?

Also, I'm a total newbie so will need constand prodding!

Well, we've already got a paladin. Currently looking at a paladin, inquisitor, wizard, oracle, and gunslinger. If you don't have the Shattered Star Player's Guide, you need to get that. It's available here for free download. If you're wanting to look at what would be most useful in the group, I'd probably say Rogue, but you're welcome to work out whatever you'd like to play with the rest of the group. And welcome to Pathfinder. How long you been playing?

This will literally be my first game!

How about a dwarf rogue than? Do most people use Hero Lab for character creation?

I have the core book and just downloaded the Shattered Star player's guide (gonna have a look at this now). I'm happy to pick up a copy of the Shards of Sin book if I need it..?

Hero Lab is very helpful if you have it, but by no means necessary. Really all you should need is the CRB and the Player's Guide. If you need any help making your alias, let me know.

How are we generating ability scores?

---edit---

oops - 20 pt buy, I see now

Er, ok.. how does this look...

At the end I've added the Shattered Star traits I'd like and also the investigator sub-class... is that ok??

If I can offer some advice Andavar:

You are in a group with four CHA prime stat characters, I wouldn't worry about Investigator because to take that archeytype you lose Trapfinding which I think would be beneficial.

Your calculation for to hit on your Battleaxe is wrong. As a dwarf you are automatically proficient with battleaxe so you should be swinging at +2 to hit. I'm not sure why you have a second line with slightly different damage profile...

Edit: It just occurred to me that you might be looking to dual wield? In that case you probably want to use a better weapon combo and hold off till you have the feats because with those penalties even in a good tactical position you might not hit much...Just my opinion.

Ah, yes I didn't realise that wielding two meant I'd incur the penalty. I'll delete the second. Thanks for pointing that out!

I'd like to stick with him being an investigator because although he's a rogue I want him to be dinstinctly good. However, as this is supposed to be a dungeon-heavy game, you're probably right about trapfinding... Hm... something for me to think about...

oh, my other noob question is about money...

this build leaves me with 11 gold - is that enough for lodging / sundries etc before the dungeoneering begins?

That's plenty of gold. You have to remember that the primary currency in the world is silver, so even just a couple gold is a fair amount of coin.

Any archetype you want to play is fine, so long as it fits the idea of the character you want to play. Investigator might not be the most tactically advantageous, but that's your choice to make. My advice would be to not spread your stats around so much, but focus more on one or two. In this case, Dex mainly, followed by Cha or Str.

To be clear I wasn't trying to min/max only pointing out that the distinct mechanical advantage gained by the archetype probably isn't gonna have the same impact considering the group. Without the archetype there is no reason he isn't "still" an Investigator (and good) you just maybe don't need to take the hit on an ability which is valuable and quite frankly fun to have. Plus I have to concede I like investigator/cop characters who are gruff but observant (Constable Odo anyone?) and trapfinding seems to fall into that category.

That was my motive with the weapon thing too, I like concept I just wanted to make sure that you might have a better sense of the overall impact of the choice. I think every player wants to succeed in their concept and contribute to the game I just worry that newer players might get chagrined if things don't work the way they might have conceptualized them. (Well we all get chagrined if a concept doesn't work they way we are hoping I mean for newer players in a way that might turn them off to the game. I think the old timers are more resolute in their insanity, er, I mean faith ;p)

Good advice from Hector. Additionally, instead of listing just the attribute modifier on your character sheet, it's probably a better idea to list the actual attribute score.

There are several other archetype options if you're wanting to play a Rogue that is distinctly good but that also has trapfinding; the ones that strike me as most appropriate for that role are the Scout and the Sanctified Rogue. I'll link you to both of them here:

Sanctified Rogue
Scout

I'm not suggesting, of course, that you must maintain trapfinding in your character; I'm just letting you know there are options for keeping the trapfinding and the lawful good status in case you didn't know about them prior to now. Go with whichever character you want most to play!

You might also like to create an alias for the character you intend to use rather than using your main character ID; creating an alias will allow you to keep the post history on the two accounts separate so that you can always go back and check through your previous actions in the PbP without other posts on the board clogging it up.

hey hector, are you still looking for another player? I haven't had time to read through the entire thread but I was thinking of making a bard, Im at work right now, but I would give more details later this evening that is if there is space available

So I am about ready Phil, finally hashed out my equipment (and as would be appropriate for Alleria I spent copious amounts of our family's money on very nice versions of things that are only sometimes useful)

So:

1. What is our ethnic background? Great houses can be anything and Magnimar is full of Chelaxians, Varisians, Shoanti and then anybody else who felt like showing up so what do you think? Alleria will be sort of obsessed with her belief in a Varisian heritage whether it is accurate or not...

2. So in my mind Alleria left at some point to transition from everyday noble girl to gunslinger. I think I found the gun in Magnimar but left town to figure out what is what. I think she came back when Gideon was on his way to being ostracized (I'm not sure if you are imagining a series of small events or one sudden issue) and sort of showed up to offer a "well he goes/I go" slap in the face to mom and dad on Gideon's way out the door. That might mean an age gap of 2-4 years?

3. So Alleria is certainly more feisty and less wholesome of the pair except when it comes to her brother. Lower wisdom, tends to mischief and using her personality/looks to get her way. Sorta a princess in that way. I'm sure she and Basil will get along great *insert wink at Wellard here* The gun as an idea represents her well; lots of force maybe not always reliable but effective when present.

4. She is interested in accumulating wealth/power to get back at the family but she is still a decent person at her core. I'm gonna start her in neutral alignment land but as things progress she probably will expose herself as being a pretty good person...but I certainly want to explore the fact that ultimately her upbringing and personality certainly show a selfish streak.

5. Not sure what else you had in mind. I figured I would see what you had constructed and sort of weave my ideas in and out as would be appropriate time wise.

Sorry, Morphelis, i think six is the most I can handle at the moment. I'll keep you in mind if there are any drop-out's later, though.

Also, I now officially have Shards of Sin, so as soon as you guys are ready, we can begin. Also, for those of you still working out the kinks in your characters, a note on the themes of this AP: This AP is a sequel to RotRL, CotCT, SD, and, to a lesser extent, JR. Karzoug has been defeated (though not many people are aware he rose, much less was defeated), Queen Ileosa rose to power and was subsequently overthrown, and the myth of the dark elves was proven to be very true. Ancient history, arcane magic (especially Thassilonian magic) will play a significant role. There is to be a fair amount of dungeon-crawling here, so keep that in mind. If the iconics chosen are any indication, they're Harsk (dwarf ranger), Kyra (human cleric), Amiri (human barbarian), and Damiel (elf alchemist).

Devon, my thoughts so far are like this: Alleria and Gideon's parents are lesser-known scions for House Derexhi who retired from adventuring early to raise their two children in relatively stability. They told their kids plenty of stories of their adventuring days, though, which kinda gave the two of them starry-eyed ideas about going off adventuring themselves.

Alleria showed a decided talent for the ranged arts at a relatively young age, and as a result, her parents used the connections they had from their adventuring days to acquire for her the kingly gift of a firearm from Alkenstar. Perhaps at that point is when she leaves to figure out what is what, per your point number 2.

Gideon, being the younger (by four years sounds good to me; I was wanting him to be a fair bit younger than her), really looks up to his big sister and wanted to follow in her footsteps. However, despite his good looks and honeyed tongue, which he uses to great effect in and around the Alabaster District, he is only mediocre at whatever combat art he attempts, lacking any of Alleria's natural skill. This frustrates him a great deal.

At some point, after she has been gone for a year or two, near his 16th or so-th birthday, he goes to a fortune-teller to get a Harrow reading. The reading reveals that he is destined for some specific purpose, but what that is cannot be told. When he leaves, he sees a sudden bright flash of light; when it fades, he realizes his vision is almost entirely gone.

He slowly manages to make his way back home, where he reveals the predicament to his parents. They immediately fret over it, forbidding him from any more combat practice, not wanting him to hurt himself more. As time passes, they grow slowly more restrictive, convinced that they're doing him a favor by keeping him from getting hurt, but it only makes him want to rebel more. That's when he begins discovering his gift for the divine and starts practicing it in secret, knowing his parents would disapprove and try to stop him from gaining the skill to become truly proficient at it.

Finally, he's had enough of being coddled and basically one day rips his parents a new one, telling them that he has no intention of remaining their pet child for the rest of his life and he knows he is destined for something greater; when his tirade is over, he storms out of the house, taking only a few of his more prized possessions with him, not telling them his intent is to head down to the Pathfinder Lodge; his outburst, very out of character for the normally-mild young man, shocks his parents so much that by the time they go try to figure out what's happened to him, it's too late to do anything to stop him.

I envision him as, as you put it earlier, a more low key, mild sort of personality, though very optimistic and hopeful. He knows that some great destiny awaits him and has absolute faith in that, but he is content to fulfill that destiny in a less-aggressive way. Knowing his physical limitations, he'd much rather talk than come to blows.

I see his motivation as primarily just proving to himself, his parents, and the world that he can be a capable adventurer even with his handicap. I don't think he'd have a neutral alignment, nor do I see him holding a long-term grudge against his folks. I feel like he'd have reacted by pledging to himself that he wouldn't ever treat another sentient being like his parents had treated him, even with their good intentions.

I think trapfinding probably is too valuable to sacrifice.

Phil - I like the sanctified rogue archetype. Which source book does that come from?

I will run up a new stat sheet and post it asap. I just need to work up a bit of background. I think I might switch from monument scholar to exchange agent, as I don't see him being a native of magnimar.

Hector why don't you put up a post in the Gameplay thread so we can get started with our Intro Posts

And welcome Andavar..dont be reluctant to ask questions we were all noob's once..although in my case that was in 1974..lol

Okay, background and stats below.

I'm ready to go as long as nobody notices any glaring issues...
Is it right that we start with 2 traits, including one from Shattered Star?
I have an alias ready for gameplay.

Hector - I'm struggling to find time right now, and wouldn't mind swapping out to give Morphelis the spot instead. Swap out of Bard for Inquisitor should be fairly straightforward.

Well, Mark's out so Morph, if you're still following the thread, you're in.

And yes Andavar, you get the Shattered Star trait and one other. Also, I'm assuming you chose rogue for your favored class, so did you take the extra hit point, the extra skill point, or one of the variant bonuses? And Sanctified Rogue is from Ultimate Combat. Everything on your stat block looks good, but shouldn't your CMD be 16? 10+0(BAB)+3(str)+3(dex). Other than that everything looks good. I'll have the gameplay thread up this evening.

Phil: Good, good, and good. The Alkenstar gun as a gift is actually less convoluted than what I had thought up and still supports the "princess" vibe I wanted from her background. I agree that 4 years sound good so if Gideon is 18 she is 22 which is perfect because I basically want her to have been going out to Alkenstar and sort of all over Varisia on mom and dad's dime "learning to be a Derexhi" only to have her come back, see that Gideon has been treated like he needs to be kept locked in his room and basically have her say "yeah well I don't need your money...I mean I'll take all the stuff I bought with it but I don't need it anymore" There is probably some guilt there (she was out galavanting on this path to a big future, built up by the ultimate soccer mom and football dad) and so she probably has pretty complicated feelings about following Gideon's lead; a nice mixture of affection, guilt, and defiance to the family. Yay inner turmoil!

I got my profile set up or was working on it and then it got wiped. Will give it another go today. I think we have it pretty well hammered out, I'm looking forward to this.

Hector, I took an extra skill point for being rogue.

I don't know why Herolab has calculated 10+0+3+3 as 14. Unless there's a negative modifier I'm missing somewhere..?

I need to update equipment and background but the skeleton is there...

Working on gear now; everything else is ready. Hector, would you allow me to sell the noble's outfit that I start out with from Alabaster Outcast for half-gold? Heck, even less than that I'd be ok with; I'd like to get enough to afford a Harrow deck from the get-go, but after purchasing a shield and weapon, I'm about 12 GP short.

EDIT: Hello sister!

I'm assuming that you all live somewhere in Magnimar, and as such, not prone to carrying around every item in your possession in your backpack. Whenever you leave, assume that you're allowed to elave as much or as little of your wealth at home while adventuring.

And while I'm thinking about it, Andavar, make sure you copy your character's stat block onto the "about" section of your alias's page for easy reference. You can check out any of our aliases to kind of get the idea.

Also, Gameplay thread is now live! Good luck everyone.

I edited my previous post to ask about selling the noble's outfit to allow me to purchase a Harrow deck; if that won't fly, I'd rather trade out the Harrowed feat for a different one and take it at 3rd level, when I'll be able to afford a Harrow deck more easily.

That's fine, Phillip. Part of the perks of your trait. Plus it fits your character's idea that he might get rid of his noble accoutrements preparing for his new life.

So am I right from tbe intro that we've been in training for three years? So if Gideon left home at 16 he would be 19 now and Alleria 23?

That would be correct. There is a three year training period at the Grand Lodge in Absalom before anyone can join the Pathfinders. It can be longer, but is at the minimum three years. So Gideon's been away from home just long enough for it to start to become normal. However, I'm returning to Magnimar is stirring up all kinds of emotions for him, and Alleria as well.

How are we doing dice rolls?

There's a dice roll function here on the boards. The "how to format your text" button under the text box shows you how to do it.

It's (dice)1d20(/dice), but with the brackets instead of parenthesis.

Sorry for the slight delay, everyone. My wife and I... Well let's just say I've had personal issues that have had me in a state where I couldn't really focus on anything for more than a few minutes. But now that that's all worked out (I hope) I'll get us caught up this evening after work.

Been there. Say no more, say no more...

I dunno if it'll mean anything to you or not, Hector, but I'll remember you in my prayers. It can't possibly hurt!

As long as you are not praying to Zon Kuthon or something... :-P

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this done. I've been really busy lately.

Here is Yeralithi Morgethai, from the town of Riverspire, in Kyonin. I'm taking the Exchange Agent trait, with the Linguistics aspect. Since I already know elven, I thought that I would take dwarven, as it is one of the main languages of neighboring Druna, if that's ok.

We're still waiting for the Dm to get his act moving so welcome to Yeralithi...Basil is going to be so pleased to have another attractive female along..being lawful good does not include having to be chaste in my book..at least not while he is single.

Behold I have returned. After a rather bad week, I think I've finally got my head together. I appreciate the thoughts, guys.