GM Ladile's TL;DR: A Pathfinder Society Campaign

Game Master Lady Ladile

Just throwing the Storm Kindler Prestige Class into the mix of suggestions. It has the Storm Shape ability which'll let your Arcanist or Witch turn into am actual storm, plus you'd be able to see through fog. Might work if you're more interested in the windy side of things. :)

My own dilemma is in familiar choice: chicken (any farm animal really) or thrush... I originally picked thrush because of its ability to talk, but Tupp is a farm boy, and it might be quite fun to have a pig, goat, or chicken. My main concern is that the familiar is my only source of knowledge (and to a lesser degree, sense motive), so not being able to talk might be an issue.

Oh, and I've only had two confirmations so far, plus there's still parts of that scenario I haven't seen. So I'm happy to go again. :)

Rabbit!

Whichever one you pick, they can all talk to you so the ability to speak Taldane isn't that big of a deal.

Havoker and Elementalist are the two things I’ve looked at most... my biggest issue with havoker is thematic- there’s not really a patron available that I like with it; my problem with the elementalist is more pragmatic- you get no exploits until 3rd so reseource management is going to be a nightmare at first and second...

Regarding other suggestions- I don’t want to double up on a class (which eliminates Druid, summoner, and medium, iirc), and since there are already several face characters I don’t want to be Cha based (which rules bards and sorcerers, mostly).

Thank you all for the suggestions though. My brains still a little fried but I’ll get some figured out soon.

I know we've got 7 players but if you wanted to do Summoner that'd be fine :)

I thought someone else was playing a summoner? Either way, they're at least somewhat Cha based so it wouldn't be my first choice...

My comp at home is down. I might not be able to log on on week ends, and partially during the week from work, for the next week (and maybe 10-14 days)

Please bot me as needed

Sorry to hear, Hep! Hope you're able to get it repaired/replaced as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Related to the above, looks like Nate just got a little more time to work on his character! But no matter what, I'd really like to get started by July 1st (but hopefully a little earlier than that) so that folks don't lose the hype :P

Floating this list back up!

Paladin
Bloodrager
Rogue

Druid
Medium
Cleric

Nate, if you like, I can play an arcane caster (Kiango is a character I would be playing anyways!) which would give you some options. I have a wizard already made who only has two sessions of credit. While I like Kiango, I feel like he is cramping your design space and I am more than willing to free that up for you (pulls a face out of the mix, gives you the druid as an option, and I'd be covering pretty much all knowledges to boot) so that we can both play characters we want :)

Proof of my wizard! He is my protege (a boon that gives an extra bonus to a stat) that will be going all in on the Slow spell. Will generally be a problem solver and buffer (beyond the initial slow to debuff). I'm considering using expedition manager on him too, but haven't fully decided yet.

I was kinda/sorta hoping that no one else would play an actual wizard, as a real wizard will see through Theo's ruse pretty much immediately...

Here's Theo's backstory...

Lord Theodric DeSoldon is a minor nobleman from Taldor, in a province where anti-Qadiran sentiment (and resulting anti-Sarenite sentiment) runs very deep. He's always been a studious sort, and was fascinated by magic. He also had a deep interest in the Taldor-Qadira war, in which his grandfather had been a hero. However, his research into Qadiran history revealed that they weren't the evil monsters that popular tales would imply... and that the Sarenite faith is one of goodness and mercy. He became more and more fascinated and intrigued by Sarenite philosophy, until one night a vision of Sarenrae herself came to him in a dream.

The vision of the Dawnflower told him that she would welcome him as a follower if he so chose, and that the ways of goodness and mercy could bring about great positive change to his people and his land. She implored him to remain faithful, practice mercy, and to perform acts of active goodness...even in the face of danger. For goodness is an action. Yet, she said that she understood that doing good in the name of the Dawnflower may cause undue harm to Theo's circumstance, as many in Taldor did not trust her, so he should keep his faith secret, and let his actions speak instead.

Theo sought out the underground Sarenite church in Taldor and studied in secret, eventually becoming able to perform the Dawnflower's holy miracles. Yet, to outsiders, he presented his divine gifts as arcane magic. Outside of the undeground church, Theo poses as a dillitante dabbler in the arcane: a self-taught elementalist hedge wizard with an unhealthy obsession with magical fire. Yet, at the same time, he is a man of his word; a nobleman who treats his staff with kindness and forebearance; and a minor politician who argued against military action whenever diplomacy had a chance of working.

However, he found the life of a minor noble to be stifling, especailly as his mother still has at least two or more decades left in her career as baroness. A chance encounter with another priest of Sarenrae in the underground church changed the direction of his life: For she was both a Pathfinder and a member of the Silver Crusade. In that conversation, Theo made an uncharistically impulsive decision to "take a long holiday" to "see the world." He went with that Pathfinder to the lodge in Oppara, where he quickly joined the ranks as a junior member.

Theo's holy symbol of the Dawnflower is a highly stylized, large, gold-and-silver ring that he wears on his right hand. He often mentions that the ring is the focus of his magical powers. He also carries around a large tome inscribed in a strange language that he refers to as his "spellbook." In reality, the book is a copy of The Birth of Truth and Light, written in Kelish—a language he is fluent in. He also has a spent wand of cure light wounds that he usues as a prop whenever he uses his Sarenite healing powers, strongly implying that the healing comes from the wand. Finally, he carries a Qadiran scimitar on his hip... He claims that it's a family heirloom and war relic that was claimed from a Qadiran horseman in the last war. That part is completely true.

Or could be an intellectual curiosity, how fascinating that you cast in such a way ;)

Theo, is there an arcane caster that wouldn't see through your ruse?

EDIT: Does Spellcraft see through you or what exactly is fooling us here?

Wizards come in all shapes and sizes, with a low sense motive, who's to say a typically self-absorbed wizard isn't going to say. "Why, what a novel approach to spellcraft you have. A tad pedestrian for my tastes, but if it works for you..." Before giving Theo a wary look, "Just try not to electrocute me with a stray bolt, ok? That's a good chap."

I'm happy to play it either way... If you do play a wizard, don't be offended if Theo is not inclined to let you look at his spellbook... as it's really a copy of The Birth of Truth and Light, written in Kelish script.

Or could be an intellectual curiosity, how fascinating that you cast in such a way ;)

Theo, is there an arcane caster that wouldn't see through your ruse?

EDIT: Does Spellcraft see through you or what exactly is fooling us here?

The implication from the Hidden Priest archetype from Inner Sea Magic is that a Spellcraft check can indicate whether the spell being cast is arcane or divine in nature. Hidden Priests must make a Spellcraft check to pass of their divine magic as arcane; success increases the DC of the opposing Spellcraft check by 10 to identify that the magic is divine, although the DC to identify the spell itself is unchanged. The rules don't really say much else in that regard in any other souce I've run across.

Honestly, I'm not sure how much metagame knowlege characters have in-game about which spells are on the Sorcer/Wizard spell list, and whether or not another wizard would suspect that a "wizard" who can cast healing spells might not really be a wizard after all. Bards and witches cast arcane spells, and they can use healing magic, for example.

So... go ahead and scratch what I said about not wanting another wizard in the party. Having one might be a cool role-playing hook.

I guess I'd better hurry up and finish my purchases.

Tupp, I was using a copy of your Tracking Sheet. The core function is working fine, but it stopped adding custom containers to the container list. Did you make the spread sheet or does it come from someone else?

So I can ask for advice on fixing it. :)

Regarding the meta-knowledge of spell lists:

Everything gets tangled up. Clerics can cast Fireball, Shield and Haste and other arcane spells through Domains. Certain Wizard archetype allows casting of Cure X spells. Custom spell research is a thing that exists even if it's not available to our Pathfinders. So while the masses might associate a fireball with a wizard, casting a specific spell off of the usual list wouldn't necessarily rule out or cast doubt on a caster's professed source of spell power.

I’m not complaining about playing an arcane caster! I just want to make sure I get it right if we’re going to play longterm... Although, if you’d prefer to switch to arcane I can start over looking at divine instead?

I didn't think you were complaining about it!

I am just offering to open up some of the design space. I got the impression that the storm theme was important to you, but many of the flavorful options that don't suck are covered by something that can face (because charisma) and/or a druid.

I'm just letting you know that if you want to stick to the storm theme, feel free to look at the druid/consider those face type classes, because I am willing to change my character (since I have several that would make me happy) so that you can make one that you will be happy with.

Does that make sense?

Tupp, I was using a copy of your Tracking Sheet. The core function is working fine, but it stopped adding custom containers to the container list. Did you make the spread sheet or does it come from someone else?

So I can ask for advice on fixing it. :)

I copied the base sheet and idea from somebody, but I added most of the functionality myself. I had a quick look at Tupp's sheet, and it looks like I must have deleted a couple of rows on the containers tab. If you copy row 8 and paste it in row 9 (ignoring the warning that you shouldn't be editing) and in each of the following rows, you should be good to go. Alternatively, I fixed Tupp's sheet, so you can just copy rows look there too. Just a quick note about the 'current equipment' sheet. That's still very much a work in progress that I haven't got around to finishing yet, so there are still a few bugs and it's probably best ignored or deleted for now. ;)

Oh, and you convinced me on going with a farm animal for my familiar. Although, as adorable as it would be, I'm going to steer clear of the rabbit. :)

Thanks!

I didn't think you were complaining about it!

I am just offering to open up some of the design space. I got the impression that the storm theme was important to you, but many of the flavorful options that don't suck are covered by something that can face (because charisma) and/or a druid.

I'm just letting you know that if you want to stick to the storm theme, feel free to look at the druid/consider those face type classes, because I am willing to change my character (since I have several that would make me happy) so that you can make one that you will be happy with.

Does that make sense?

Oh, I see. No, I'm not married to the storm caster- my brain was just too fried to come up with others. I've had a few days to recover from over-exposure to academic papers (and frenetic typing); as soon as I finish catching up on a couple things for work I'll finalize an arcane caster (almost definitely some variety of witch or arcanist).

I'm nearing completion of my shopping.

For the Newbie group, if you like mystery (or at least curiosity) in your fellow adventuring companions, I would recommend not (or at least resist for as long as you can stand it) looking at my profile once it is posted unless your character can make a DC 16 Knowledge (planes) check.

Still here, and figuring that I can post a little bit more about the party's rowdy ulfen.

For once, I haven't really come up with a long backstory for Ylva. The gist of it is she was sold into slavery after her parents were killed. She managed to hang onto a stubborn sense of right and wrong while chelish slave masters tried to turn her into the perfect exotic pet. She escaped thanks to some eagle knights and has been in Abosolom ever since. She joined the Pathfinders to get out of the city.

Pretty friendly, all things considered, unless you are chelish noble or a slaver.

So...ALL the Cheliax scenarios, yes? :D

(I kid, I kid!)

I think we have to do at least one now! :P maybe on the way to the world wound from the mwangi!

~I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere~

Oh no! I'm a Hellspawn Chelish noble AND slaver! ;)

Oh boy. I do hope you don't mind Ylva picking on your character some. Nothing permanent, just some bruised pride and maybe some embarrassing incidents.

I'm kidding. But if I wasn't, I wouldn't mind.

Hahaha- after all the headaches Jo has caused for Teldon, I’m suddenly tempted to make a devil summoning Chelaxian caster... maybe headed for hellknight signifier...

Quick review of seance boons, which I will post separately for quick reference:

These bonuses only apply during the rounds Zithembe is using Spiritual Invocation.

Archmage: Your damaging spells deal +2 damage of the same type.
Champion: +2 bonus to all non-spell damage rolls.
Guardian: +1 CMD.
Hierophant: Your healing spells and abilities heal an additional 2 points of damage to each target (magic items and fast healing don't count).
Trickster: Pick a skill, that skill counts as a class skill and you gain a +1 bonus to checks using that skill.
Marshal: Pick any one of the above boons.

Trickster and Marshal are the only ones with choices, but you need to make the choice each morning for those two.

I'll probably create a Google spread sheet for each of you to enter your default choices.

That's a nice and flexible group buff you've got going there! That Hierophant bonus looks real tempting once my lay on hands comes online. :)

Ok- sorry for the delay. I’m going to build a half-elf bonded witch. My elven ancestors were priests/priestesses of Pulara for a couple thousand years (so, you know, like 4 or 5 of them) and my bonded item is a holy symbol they used. My plan is to mostly focus on control and debuffs, but I can try to pick up some other types of spells too if needed.

Sounds good to me! Looking forward to hopefully getting started soonish :D

Profile is posted. Spoil at your own risk.

The normal check and DC to identify his race would be Knowledge (planes) DC 16, but you might not want to know what he is anyways just for fun.

Race boon is linked in the profile at his race entry.

I've still got a fair bit more filling out to do, but here's the start of my (Nate's) character.

Among the idiosyncrasies of PFS that I'm trying to get the hang of is starting wealth and hp... it looks like we all still get max hp at 1st (and half rounded up after that)? And, everyone gets 150g to start regardless of class?

edit: also, I was just looking at the faction cards and there doesn't seem to be one for The Concordance... it was an option when I registered/made the character... should I switch that to something else?

yup. That's all correct. I also think that the Concordance got replaced by one of the current factions, so yeah, you'll need to replace it.

On HP: Yep, max health to start and then half rounded up + Con and any other bonuses like FCB.

On Starting Gold: Yes, everyone gets 150gp starting out, no matter your class! Nice for those classes that don't have to spent a lot on weapons and armor, if anything.

On Factions: Actually, the Concordance is the newest faction and has only recently been introduced. The Scarab Sages faction is the one that's received a sort of 'soft retirement' in that you can still select it for new characters until *I think* this year's GenCon and you can still complete their faction goals on new and existing Scarab Sage PCs. But their goal/campaign arc has concluded and so they've been phased out and the Concordance phased in.

Speaking of factions and campaign arcs, it took a little digging since the website redesign means stuff isn't where I'm used to it being but the following documents might be handy:

The Story So Far - This document basically gives a summary of the major events that have occurred during each season without spoilering specific scenarios. It's a handy read if you want to know a little more about the Society's history.

Faction Journal Cards - Season 9 (Half Sheet)
Faction Journal Cards - Season 9 (Full Sheet)

They're way down at the bottom but the Concordance *does* have a Faction Journal card, huzzah! Note that these cards are always updated at the beginning of a new season, which starts at GenCon. Sometimes the goals you can check off for your faction change each season - while you can keep an older card (say, Season 9 Dark Archive) *or* start a new one for a new season (Season 10 Dark Archive) you can't do both at the same time and have to choose one or the other. Hopefully all of that makes sense :)

By the way, it won't come into play for quite some time but for the Bonded Witch archetype PFS makes a couple of changes:

(1) Energy Siege Shot is replaced by Resounding Shot at 10th level

(2) Arcane Cannon is replaced by Fire Brand at 14th level

Hopefully neither of those changes are deal breakers for you on the archetype but I wanted to mention it now since I know you like to plan your builds out in advance!

And sometimes PFS will do that for certain classes or archetypes; a pretty common change is classes/archetypes receiving different feats in the place of item crafting feats. For example, Alchemists automatically receive Extra Bombs in the place of the Brew Potion feat. Stuff like that.

Should I change my faction (currently Scarab Sages) and if so, how do you do it?

No, you don't have to unless you want to, Hep. The relevant tidbit about how the change to Scarab Sages works can be found in this Paizo blog :)

Those changes only affect bonded witches whose bonded item is a weapon; mine is an amulet so no issues.

The most recent Season 9 Campaign Guide has the Concordance faction traits--if you were interested in any of those trsits--and the most recent Faction Card pdf has the Concordance.

Thanks, Zithembe. I tried looking for that stuff on the site but my search-fu is weak since they overhauled the site. I'll try again.

On a related note... I get a free masterwork item for my bonded item but I can't find any guidelines for that except as it applies to weapons... does anyone know what I can or can't take? or (even better) have a link to where it's addressed? I know that normally it wouldn't really matter very much but my bonded item is a holy symbol and I may take false focus at some point (I may actually wait until 2nd to get slumber so I can take false focus right away), so I'd need to know how much it was worth...

Masterwork armor is cost + 150 gp, masterwork weapons are cost + 300 gp, masterwork tools are 50 gp, anything else that is masterwork is whatever the maker made it worth (50 gp and up).

I'd need someone less sleep deprived and more motivated to check the Guide/Campaign Clarifications, but I think bonded items (even weapons) resell at 0 gp in PFS.

EDIT: Re: Concordance stuff...

Season 9 Campaign Guide

Ladile linked the faction cards in her post.

yeah... I was aware of those values, my issue is that false focus lets you use your holy symbol in place of material components that cost less than it (to a max of 100g), so there's potentially a fairly significant difference between say a masterwork wooden holy symbol and a gold one... is it safe/fair to say that I can have a gold holy symbol (or a jeweled silver one) that's worth at least 100g for the feat?

I think it would be fair to say it is worth 50 gp (and not less than 50 gp), but that's just my opinion and expect table variation.

EDIT: Unless you specifically go out and buy a 100 gp masterwork holy symbol.

EDIT EDIT: It took me a minute to see what you said. That does appear to be legal: take a gold holy symbol (UE pg. 66), which is Always Available as your bonded object and its value would be 100 gp.

The question is less "what is the value of a masterwork holy symbol" and more "what can I take as a bonded object," and a gold holy symbol is valid.

...and to spin off into the academics: a jeweled silver holy symbol would not be unless there's a valid resource that specifically lists its cost, it does not have a defined cost, which is the criteria for mundane gear to be Always Available--that and in an approved resource.

Made a couple corrections to my profile:

My final draft skills have 2 ranks in perform (oratory) and only 1 rank in knowledge (planes).

I bought a hex nail.

Thanks

Just as a FYI, information is now up for PbP Gameday VII - the next PbP convention for Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society! Check it out if you're curious :)