Well, if the game's Skull and Shackles, I'd... uh... discourage anything Paladin-y. XD
Oh..I suppose I should have specified. I was thinking a paladin of Besmara XD
*Glances at alignment restrictions* Uh... XD; Can I convince you to go for Warpriest instead? Or, if you're interested in Spherecasting, there's some Mageknight options that might work.
I wasn't going to go actual paladin! That would never work. Meant more in the stylistic sense of a devout Besmara warrior. I was thinking more zealot with an obsession with violence, raiding, and treasure. Mixed with a bit of either oracle or maybe skald encouraging the crew to rage-filled battle. Viking-esque pirate? Who doesn't have very strong higher end goals so while charismatic he throws his lot in with others who have greater vision. As long as he gets his battles, raids, and treasure hunting.
I forgot about spherecasting. I love that system. I'd like to mix that in instead of a traditional vancian caster.
Also, but hot damn it's good to see you again. :-)
Agreed! It's good to have you back, Raven :D
Oooh you could be a Linnorm Kings raider come down from the north! Or an Arcadian skinwalker!
With two "mehs" and a "yes", I think gestalt is the way to go. I'm tempted to look through the PoW classes for an alternative to Swashbuckler for Ambrose. Damn if those aren't some fun martials to play! Hmm... this could be my chance to make that Varisian card-throwing staff magus I've been wanting to try since the Harrow Handbook came out.
I'm tempted to look through the PoW classes for an alternative to Swashbuckler. Damn if those aren't some fun martials to play!
Agreed. I keep going back over this and seeing if there's some Initiator+Something Else combo I could make work. Warlord/Wilder, for instance, but that's too subtle for me. :D
Oh. Oh!
Raven, what if you weren't the only one to have "gotten religion"? I could do a Warder (Ordained Defender) of Besmara.
Two Besmarans and an Asmodean walk into a bar...
Oh. Oh!
Raven, what if you weren't the only one to have "gotten religion"? I could do a Warder (Ordained Defender) of Besmara.
We must remind the pirates to give the Pirate Queen her due or they will have poor luck when it comes to hunting treasure and raiding towns!
@ Hurley, I have no idea what an Arcadian skinwalker is so I'll be looking it up. I just spent the last four hours trying to code in Python using ArcGIS and after an hour and a half realized that x = 1 and y =2 and not x = 2 and y = 1. More or less.
At the moment, considering a Half-orc Zealot || Soul Weaver. Healing, buffs, melee combat, diplomacy/intimidate and sailing.
Edit: I should add that I've run the first book of skulls & shackles and half the second. I haven't had a chance to play in it before. I love the path and its easily one of my top three (Kingmaker, Skulls & Shackles, Rise of the Runelords). Pirates are awesome.
I hate it when that happens :P How's grad school going?
Skinwalkers are a race from Blood of the Moon. In Golarion they're commonly from Arcadia, the continent out west across the ocean on the other side of the Azlanti ruins. There hasn't been much published about Arcadia, but it's probably something of an Americas analogue to the Inner Sea's European/Mediterranean/African analogue. Arcadians also have something of a raider reputation.
It's occurred to me that, as this is effectively an invite-only game, I haven't submitted any of the materials that I would typically include. There's some stuff in the profile, but I imagine some of it might not be up to date. I'll post some background snippets soon that might smooth out some of the wrinkles from shoehorning a Korvosan aristocrat into the Shackles.
I hate it when that happens :P How's grad school going?
Brilliant, actually. This is my third semester and its a ton of fun. I like how I'm essentially taking an art-analysis class and a programming class this semester. The variety of skills needed to work with GIS is amazing. Statistics, programming, designing pretty maps, picture identification..
Skinwalkers are a race from Blood of the Moon. In Golarion they're commonly from Arcadia, the continent out west across the ocean on the other side of the Azlanti ruins. There hasn't been much published about Arcadia, but it's probably something of an Americas analogue to the Inner Sea's European/Mediterranean/African analogue. Arcadians also have something of a raider reputation.
Looking over the skinwalkers..playing a were-shark would be pretty wicked. I love this one line from the race description: "...pirates with the ability to impose their will on anyone or anything that gets in their way." If that doesn't scream "charismatic pirate" I don't know what does.
He'll be eager to push the crew to do the captain's bidding. Think the charismatic marine sergeant as opposed to the ship's captain. He doesn't have his own massive vision or goals so leverages his charisma to make others follow another's..as long as it involves plenty of bloodletting.
For class, I'm still thinking Zealot (Void Prophet)||Soul-weaver. I'd focus on lots of debuff strikes with spheres that buff allies. I'll have to see if there's some skald-style rage giving amongst the spheres for him to pick up. All while having a bit of a shamanistic aspect. Like those creepy pirate witches with the bone necklaces, strange voodoo and so forth. Think a bit of Tia Dalma from Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with Jaws mixed with ...I don't know any good pirates who weren't captains.
I don't even know what would gestalt with a Warder like that. For a Besmaran, maybe UnRogue...?
Oh, Raven, follow-up question: how's the kid?
The kid's doing great! 9 months old now and moving all over the place. He sleeps through the night and even sleeps in on weekends, its amazing. How's yours doing?
@ Rednal, How do you imagine a Skinwalker's Change Shape would interact with the Alteration sphere? Could I utilize both at once if the basic "form" was the same? I was thinking of snatching that up to give him a way to get even more sharky..and also be able to curse others with a bit of sharkiness.
A Skinwalker's Change Shape and the Alteration sphere are both Polymorph effects, and thus do not stack. If you really want to be a shark-person, go for the Shifter class as your 'combat/damage' choice. o wo/ They're the masters of that, and you could easily flavor the class as evolving your 'wereshark' powers while still having human as your base race.
...
You can also learn to swim in the water and shoot lightning from your mouth. o vo
No kidding? I never really took a deep look at SoP, but it sounds like it could be another route to a concept I've eyed up a few times, the draconic-powered character (another route to it besides dragon disciple, that is).
Is this a good/up-to-date source for learning about the Spheres?
@Raven, the kids are awesome, thanks. The big one just started 1st grade, and the little guy is in his last year of preschool. Frikkin' blink of an eye.
No kidding? I never really took a deep look at SoP, but it sounds like it could be another route to a concept I've eyed up a few times, the draconic-powered character (another route to it besides dragon disciple, that is).
I've had a similar concept for a character who was, once, a dragon, but was cursed into a different form with greatly diminished powers.
Raven, what are you taking your degree in?
EDIT: We never discussed character building rules. Are we doing the standard 20 point buy with max HP at level 1 and two traits? I like the background skills system.
EDIT: We never discussed character building rules. Are we doing the standard 20 point buy with max HP at level 1 and two traits? I like the background skills system.
I'm game for all of that. I started building my guy off 25 pts, but I'll trim some fat if we go down to 20. :)
I'm starting to think my character came from the north, up Riddleport way. He's the illegitimate son of some mid-level someone in the city's power structure (like an officer in the Gendarmes, but I haven't decided yet). His goal is to do something "big", that would force some recognition/approval by his father. Hence his stated desire to be known as "The Man Who Sacked Ghol-Gan".
Race is still unknown, but human, half-orc and tiefling are the strong contenders. And I have a plan for how to trim his ability scores down to 20, if we go that way.
All I know of Riddleport is what I can see in the wiki, if anyone's got anything to offer on how to refine the concept, I'm all ears!
...the presence of another tiefling would also force him to wrestle with underlying insecurities about his identity, especially if that tiefling was not an aristocrat like Ambrose.
Like, if he was the son of a Calistrian prostitute...? (One of the ideas I'm working on right now.)
All I know of Riddleport is what I can see in the wiki, if anyone's got anything to offer on how to refine the concept, I'm all ears!
I'll take a look through my collection to see what I can find on Riddleport. There should be some info in one of the earlier issues of Second Darkness.
Based on what I'm reading just from the Wiki, it looks like the whole power structure is corrupt. The city is openly ruled by a criminal council. I'm not sure the place has gendarmes.
EDIT:
Since the city’s founding, Riddleport has been ruled by a series of pirate lords, buccaneers, and other unsavory sailors in a bloody cycle of betrayal and violent coups. Overlord Cromarcky has maintained his rule over Riddleport for three decades by entrenching himself in a wholly new manner. Rather than rely on the loyalty of pirate crews and fellow captains, Overlord Cromarcky opened the coffers of his deceased predecessor and hired mercenaries and enforcers from land-bound groups with no connection to piracy. Calling this new breed of enforcers the Riddleport Gendarmes (“gentlemen-at-arms”), he created a military force loyal to his coin.
Never mind, it totally does. But they're basically a mercenary army.
Like, if he was the son of a Calistrian prostitute...? (One of the ideas I'm working on right now.)
Yeah, that would do it alright. Are you thinking Shorafa Pamodae, or somebody a little lower on the Riddleport totem-pole?
Not her specifically, but a girl from one of her establishments.
I'm going to go with Hurleys arcadian idea. I'll be going human but snatching the alteration sphere for some wereshark heritage Ness. He'll be a tribal raider from childhood who earned a place aboard a ship that was recently shipwrecked in the isles. Using the Blessed by Besmara background campaign trait. He'll be a brusque sort whose charismatic tendencies stem from his imposing presence and his boastful story telling that encourages others to take foolish risks in battle alongside him.
That makes two of us with Besmara's Blessing. It seems the Pirate Queen has taken an auspicious interest in our party to be shipwrecking us into meeting.
I'll still be using, uh, is it Ancient Explorer? I think it's Ancient Explorer. The one that gives you Cyclops as a language. My character will still be a worshiper of Besmara, but a more recent convert, having grown up with Calistria.
I'll put up a stat block sooner than later. The main holdup, as it is so often, is the name. Soon s I come up with something I don't hate...
I had another idea I was mulling over, Stalker(Privateer)/Cleric of Besmara, but Hero Lab isn't set up to do the Privateer, and I didn't feel like doing thirty gazillion entries on the Adjustment tab, so the hell with it. :)
Welcome to my life. I don't have Hero Lab. I've got the template copied into Notepad++ and I manually adjust for every character I make.
Also, I totally know what you mean about names. Imagine my chagrin when I met the Wormwood's cook for the first time... Grimold was pretty easy, given that he came with a name already given XD
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Alright, here's the background portion. Statblock to follow. Right now I'm favoring wizard/swashbuckler with the Inspired Blade and Noble Fencer archetypes.
"Come in, come in," came the voice from the other side of the door. Obeying, Ambrose threw the doors open, interrupting the battle for his own personal glory. Confidently, he strode into the study where his father sat at his grand desk, head bent down over an important-looking document. Behind him, the window's rich velvet curtains were drawn back, offering a spectacular view of Korvosa beyond. Ambrose could barely keep from grinning as his father, Lord Aloysius Jeggare, looked up at him, dropping his quill back into the inkwell on his desk.
"Ambrose."
"Father." Ambrose did his best to imitate his father's stoic bearing and somber tone of voice, but he lost the battle as his father wordlessly handed him the document.
Ambrose's grin fades as suddenly as it appeared as he reads the document, an expression of confusion replacing it. "I don't understand."
"Those are your orders." Lord Jeggare laced his fingers together, folding his hands on the desk in front of him. No hint of mirth tugged at the corners of his mouth to betray a joke.
"You cannot be serious," Ambrose protested, though he could see for himself that his father was very serious indeed. The document he held in his hand was no laughing matter. Instead of the ownership contract he had been expecting, his father had handed Ambrose orders assigning him to a junior officer's post aboard one of his merchant galleys, the Imp's Purse. "You are pressganging me?!"
Lord Jeggare pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, wincing and sighing. Suddenly, he appeared very weary. He looked at his son, not unkindly, but pushed well past his limits.
"Ambrose, I understand that things have been... difficult for you as of late. I have tried to be patient with you, shown you leniency more times than can be counted. But I cannot allow it to continue. After what happened in Egorian, after you disgraced our family! Starting brawls, Ambrose?"
"It was not a brawl, father, it was a duel. A duel I won!"
"You cheated."
"I hardly think overpowering your opponent with both martial and arcane superiority can be considered cheating. And Narcissa's father still refuses me her hand, even after I trounced her ponce of a-"
"Enough!" Lord Jeggare was not a man who often raised his voice, much less against his own son, but he had had his fill of his son's complete and total lack of self-discipline. A certain amount of carousing and misbehavior was to be expected from a young man of Ambrose's age and station, tacitly encouraged even, but this latest embarrassment had been too much.
It was a shock when young Ambrose, a bright (and, importantly, human) boy of twelve when he left for the Acadamae, returned a decade later as a devil-summoning, devil-worshipping tiefling! They had tried to be understanding of their new misanthrope of a son, welcomed him back into the family as if nothing had changed. Lord Jeggare had ignored his son's diabolism, raised no objection when he had begun building a summoning circle in his bedchamber, even allowed him to attend Asmodean services instead of joining the rest of the family at the Abadaran temple. It was only to be expected, really. While he had hoped his son would study divination or transmutation, the Acadamae had a certain reputation for turning out top-shelf conjurers and devil binders. Ambrose had even graduated near the top of his class!
In hindsight, Lord Jeggare had to admit that they should have delayed Ambrose's induction into Chelaxian society, but he never would have predicted the reactions Ambrose provoked from the assembled nobles. His appearance was striking, but he looked mostly human, if you ignored the vestigial horns, the barbed tail, and the red-on-black eyes that smoked up the room when Ambrose became angry (which seemed to happen rather a lot). It had been terribly rude of Lord Leroung to withdraw his daughter from the arranged marriage between Ambrose and Narcissa. That contract had been signed years before Ambrose had left for the Acadamae, a strong match for both families! But dueling over the slight? And cheating? Ambrose had dealt a nasty blow to the family's reputation. He simply wasn't ready to inherit the family business, and some years at sea would teach him the discipline he sorely lacked. One day, Lord Jeggare assured himself, Ambrose would thank his father for this.
But today, Ambrose would have none of it. His eyes swept over the words that had so suddenly altered the course of his life, but he did not see them. Thin tendrils of smoke began to leak from the corners of his eyes and he turned on his heel, stalking out of the room without another word.
* * * * *
The Imp's Purse was scheduled to leave within the week. During the interim, Ambrose considered vanishing in the night, but discarded the flight of fancy as ridiculous. Instead, he was determined to keep a stiff upper lip. It would only be a matter of days after setting sail that his father would realize his error and recall his son back to Korvosa, and Ambrose's position would be the stronger for it. A week at sea might even do some good. After being confined to the estate after the incident in Egorian, a cruise on the open sea would be a refreshing change of pace. He was appointed to apprentice as ship's mage, his Acadamae schooling warranting a junior officer's position, and so his duties would not be too strenuous, and the Imp's Purse had just come off rotation with the Korvosan navy, so it was sure to be easy sailing in a purely commercial fashion. And so it was with smug optimism that Ambrose accepted his father's parting gift, a rich red uniform coat with black trim, perfectly tailored and customized with a waterproof pocket for a spellbook. Bidding his parents goodbye and fully expecting to be back in a week's time, he stepped foot in the carriage to board ship. Little did he know that it would be a week of years and more before he would see home again.
Life at sea was remarkably different from what Ambrose had pictured. Rather than the easy days of studying his books in a cabin under the tutelage of the ship's mage, he found his duties were far more laborious. Rather than studying magic, any study time Ambrose had was wasted learning about navigation. His day was filled with endless measurements of the sun, coordinate calculations, and reading the log for ship speed. Much to his chagrin, he was also required to learn about the ship and sailing, as if one day he would actually take the Lieutenant's Examination and assume command of a mast. The other officers were unsympathetic with his situation, giving him none of the respect and deference that was his due as their social better. The crew's treatment of him was even worse. The superstitious, unlettered mariners considered him bad luck, and he suffered umbrageous abuse from them. The evenings were closer to bearable; after supper when the sun had finally set, he had license to stargaze. Of course, even that was accompanied with the expectation that he would learn the constellations and positions, but Ambrose found it a reprieve nonetheless.
To Ambrose's initial dismay, the days aboard ship turned to weeks, and eventually into months. Once he realized that his father was not, in fact, going to send word to return home, Ambrose applied himself more fully to the study of the ship, if only to end the worst of the crew's abuses and in time he metamorphosed into a truly able seaman. After a full year, the Purse was up again for a military rotation, and Ambrose was drilled in naval combat and schooled in strategy alongside the other officers. There was rarely any serious naval action along the Varisian coast; Taldor's days of conquest were long behind it and Cheliax certainly had no intention of attacking its own colonial city-states. There was the occasional spat with pirates from Riddleport, but they lacked organization or conviction and were repelled easily enough. Ambrose took and passed the Lieutenant's Examination, hoping that a successful promotion would convince his father that he was ready to come home, but he was to have no such luck. When Imp's Purse once again began commercial operation, Ambrose took it upon himself to learn the family business from the other end. After all, once he was in control of the business, he might find personal knowledge of the trade routes and relationships in other port cities to be quite valuable. When the Purse received her orders to make a run down to Sargava, Ambrose found himself excited for the journey. In his time aboard ship they had made countless trips around the Varisian Gulf to Magnimar and back and a few voyages down to the Inner Sea, bouncing back and forth between northern Garund and southern Avistan. But traveling to Sargava would take Ambrose across the equator for the first time, and unlike their usual runs, Ambrose had orders to assist the captain in selling off the cargo and replenishing along the route as they made their way back. After more than two years at sea, Ambrose dared to hope that he might finally be nearing his voyage's end.
Traveling south to Eleder was a dangerous voyage. The Inner Sea had its own dangers, of course. There were raiders from the Linnorm Kingdoms up north, pirates from Katapesh to the south, and there were a number of treacherous passes along both coasts that could be challenging to navigate. But the run down to Eleder was a gauntlet of maritime hazards. Plenty of ports down that way were open to trade, but few were friendly. Between Ilizmagorti at the northern end (rumored to be under the sway of the infamous Red Mantis Assassins), to Bloodcove in the south (openly controlled by the prickly and aggressive Aspis Consortium), there lies the Shackles, an archipelago swarming with pirates that prey on merchant vessels without opposition. And even getting to the Shackles was an undertaking. On account of the Azlanti ruins and the infestation of horrible sea monsters, a ship had to make its way around the edges of the Eye of Abendego, a permanent hurricane that had turned the coastline of the whole region into drowned swamps for dozens of miles inland. But the difficulty of the run was the primary factor in its lucrativeness. Goods from Eleder, imported from the jungles of the Garund's interior, sold for outrageous prices in the Inner Sea. From exotic fruits, spices, and woods to luxury commodities and even curios, the expected return on investment from a run down south could measure many times the journey's cost, even after the dangers were considered. It would be an excellent opportunity for Ambrose to prove his value to his father and earn his place at the table.
It was also an excellent opportunity for the pirates that marked them on their way through the Eye. The ship appeared seemingly from nowhere, as if emerging from the waves below, or perhaps even a product of the storm itself. Caught in the fury of the storm, the Imp's Purse stood not a chance. Ambrose was in the rigging, drawing sail as the pirates closed. Fire belched from the enemy's ship as volley of explosions sounded. Moments later the ship shuddered as if hit by lightning, wood splinters filling the air. His mast began to fall and Ambrose was cast into the sea as another round pounded the hull. The sea, whipped into whitecaps by the storm, began to carry Ambrose away from the scene as he clung to a piece of the wreckage for dear life. Ambrose could barely make out the ship's name as he floated away - the Filthy Lucre.
For days, he drifted in the ocean aboard his makeshift raft. Miraculously preserved through the storm and battle, it seemed he was cursed only to die a slower death on the open water. Without food, he could only subsist on the small amount of freshwater he could create by magically freezing the ocean water. Unwilling to surrender to Pharasma just yet, he called out for help in prayer. At first he prayed to Asmodeus, and for many days received no answer. Then he entreated Gozreh to carry him to shore, again receiving no answer. In desperation, he called out to any power that would answer. Nearing the brink of death from exhaustion, he spotted land on the horizon, and Ambrose knew that something out there had heard him.
And here's the statblock. GM, do you want a statblock for the familiar as well?
Also, the link to the character sheet in the alias is now updated to the correct sheet.
Male Tiefling Wizard (Conjurer - Infernal Binder) 1 // Swashbuckler (Inspired Blade/Noble Fencer) 1
LN Medium Humanoid (human, outsider)
Init +2; Senses darkvision; Perception +1
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10
HP 11 (1d10+1)
Fort 0, Ref 4, Will 2
Defensive Abilities Resist fire, electricity, cold
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Rapier +2 1d6+1
Ranged
Spell-Like Abilities Darkness (1/day)
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 1):
1 (3/day) Mage Armor, Unseen Servant, Summon Monster I
0 (3/day at will) Dancing Lights, Mage Hand, Ray of Frost
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 14
Feats Spell Focus (Conjuration), Scribe Scroll, Weapon Focus (rapier)
Traits Besmara's Blessing, Fiendish Presence
Skills Appraise +8, Bluff +3, Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (planes) +11, Perception +1, Perform (dance) +2, Profession (sailor) +5, Sense Motive +5, Spellcraft +8, Stealth +4, Swim +5
Languages Common, Infernal, Dwarven, Elven, Draconic, Polyglot
SQ Arcane bond (familiar), Arcane school (conjuration), cantrips, Scribe Scroll
Gear Red coat, rapier, spellbook
Class Abilities (Wizard)
Familiar - Thrush, speaks Infernal
Planar Knowledge
Assume Control
Summoner's Charm
Class Abilities (Swashbuckler)
Inspired Panache
Inspired Finesse
Deeds (Derring-Do, Social Panache, Opportune Parry and Riposte)
Racial Abilities
Darkvision 60'
Resistance cold, fire, electricity
Prehensile Tail
@Felix I keep a lot of stuff open in Notepad++. I was browsing through and found the file for the Bright Crusade submission.
HP fixed. Nice catch!
Alright, here's the background portion. Statblock to follow. Right now I'm favoring wizard/swashbuckler with the Inspired Blade and Noble Fencer archetypes.
I read this while at work and loved it. I kept trying to find the time while there to write something similar, but got about 6 words in before work took over. I'll work on something tonight haha!
Schnikees, Tom. You're gonna make me look bad! More so than normal! :)
I kicked that other concept around for a while today, but it never quite jelled the way I wanted it to. I'll just noodle with it in the background, insurance against my first guy becoming lacedon kibble or something.
Hey, is there any sort of consensus for a source language to use for Varisian if we're gonna start the Great Word Rip-off Game?
Fair nuff, but I meant just for cribbing words and names from other languages. (Heaven forbid, it seems the Orcish Word of the Day might actually get put to rest for this adventure, but I'm sure I'll have other languages to thrown around words from!)
Edit: like, I had it in my head to use Romanian for Varisian. I don't think my character uses his father's name, and instead of a proper last name, just goes by "of the Wasp", indicating his Calistrian origins. Ergo, he'd end up something like, "Lucas din Viespea."
To be fair, everything above the asterisk break was already written, and I only had to expand the second portion from a (much) shorter version from previous iterations of the background.
He's still only my second favorite PC, though. We'll see if he can knock Rolando out of the top spot. I daresay party interaction is an important factor in that ;)
@Felix I might swap Dwarven out for Varisian. I don't think I had actually done anything with the Varisian language like you did for Orcish. My instinct would be to substitute Romani, but I haven't been able to find much in the way of translation materials for Romani. Romani is actually more of an Indian language, while Romanian is a Romance language; they're pretty different. Still, Romanian should be a fine source for Varisian. I've got some ideas about extpanding it, depending on how in-depth you want to go with it.
Hey guys,
So my crunch is like, 95% settled. The only real tings left to do on that end are gear up figure out what extracts I have prepared (and yes, I know at the beginning of the story there's an excellent chance this won't matter).
Fluff is coming along slowly, as these things do for me. :)
Question: despite its name, can the Stone Fist spell/extract be used on feet as well? There are a couple of Thrashing Dragon maneuvers that let one make an additional unarmed (kick) attack. Is it a reasonable extentsion to let this extract be used as "Stone Feet" if specified as such at time of use?
Lucas din Viespea
Tiefling investigator 1/warder (dervish defender) 1/gestalt 1 ( [PoW], Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 30, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 264)
N Medium outsider (native)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +4
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 17 (+3 armor, +3 Dex, +1 natural, +3 untyped bonus)
hp 15 (1d12+3)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +2
Resist cold 5
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (1d4+1/19-20) or
dagger +2 (1d4/19-20) or
rapier +2 (1d6+1/18-20)
Special Attacks 1 inner sphere stance
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +0)
1/day—darkness
Investigator Extracts Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
1st—shield, stone fist[APG]
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 13, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 18
Feats Combat Reflexes, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Traits ancient explorer, pragmatic activator
Skills Acrobatics +6, Bluff +5, Craft (alchemy) +7 (+8 to create alchemical items), Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (nature) +7, Perception +4, Profession (sailor) +4, Sense Motive +4, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +8, Swim +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Bluff, +2 Stealth
Languages Common, Cyclops, Draconic, Elven, Infernal, Polyglot
SQ Aegis, alchemy (alchemy crafting +1), Defensive Focus, inspiration (3/day), prehensile tail, trapfinding +1, two-weapon defense
Other Gear studded leather, dagger, dagger, rapier, alchemy crafting kit[APG], backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, ink, inkpen, investigator starting formula book, mess kit[UE], pot, soap, trail rations (5), waterskin, 86 gp, 1 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
1 Inner Sphere Stance (Ex) Stance: When wielding two weapons, disciple gains +2 dodge bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Will saves.
Aegis +1 (10 feet) (Ex) +1 morale bonus to AC and Will saves for allies within 10 feet
Alchemy +1 (Su) +1 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Combat Reflexes (8 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Defensive Focus (10ft) (Ex) Increased threatened area, can move when making AoO, +4 to CMD vs. Acro to avoid AoO
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Inspiration (+1d6, 3/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to trained skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Prehensile Tail Your tail can retrieve small objects on your person as a swift action.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Two-Weapon Defense (Ex) Gain INT to AC when dual-wielding and wearing light or no armor and no shield.
Rapier, with a dagger when it's TWF time. I'll have to look into something a little rangier than that, too.
In that case, screw Stone Fist. I think most of those TD maneuvers still work if you kick without IUS, it's just that additional attack always does nonlethal (look at the low-level boost "Flash Kick" for example). I can live without it rather than make it into something that hampers more than any benefit. Alternately, maybe I'll try and develop my own extract that does what I need. :)
Some of the TD maneuvers either specifically call out for kicks or strongly imply it, as both hands are already doing attacks with weapons.
It's fine with me if an extract ends up being my character's solution, as I feel that would be his approach to the problem. If he needs more than that, I'll work in IUS. :)
EDIT:
o wo/
What does that signify, I've been trying all week to derive from context, but I give up. :)
I always liked to imagine the Thrashing Dragon maneuvers to be something like capoeira. A Bonawut capoeirista is one of my many back-up concepts.
I think there are probably feats that let you do lethal damage with unarmed strikes.
EDIT: Improved Unarmed Strike allows you to do lethal or non-lethal damage at your pleasure.
I always liked to imagine the Thrashing Dragon maneuvers to be something like capoeira. A Bonawut capoeirista is one of my many back-up concepts.
I think there are probably feats that let you do lethal damage with unarmed strikes.
IUS, it's right there. :) But if I wanted to get a little more dramatic with some of those maneuvers, I think it might be pretty damn cool to do Thrashing Dragon Twist with an actual tail, y'know? (There's that tail strike spell in Legacy of Dragons, looks like hilarious fun.)
From what Raven's planning, it sounds like we may have a party member that can give you a tail, at least for a little while :D
Quick question, why does Lucas only resist cold and not fire and electricity as well?
As I said, Tail strike is available as an alchemist extract, too. I'm also thinking I might have to do a little research, work out a new one, let's call it Raptor's talons.
Scaled skin racial trait, traded in fire & lightning for +1 natural armor. I'm thinking he'll end up looking almost like a nagaji or a vishkanya.
GM, tieflings' prehensile tail trait lets them retrieve "small items" as a swift action. How small is small? Specifically, is a dagger small by this reckoning? Nightcrawler's tail-to-hand move with the knife in X2 damn near made that movie for me. :)
A chair or stool could maybe be pushed in/pulled out from a table or somesuch if no one was sitting on it at the time, with some effort.
Now I want to weigh myself, then weigh myself holding one of the dining room chairs. But as much as I want to do this, I also don't want my wife to give me the what-on-earth-are-you-doing face. Dammit, if we'd had this conversation yesterday I had free run of the house all day! :)