Gm Aest's Kingmaker: To Forge a Kingdom

Game Master Aest

I was considering bard, and so is the potential player, but I've told her not to get too involved in a character yet. I'd like to hear from everyone, like I said, about what their preferences are. She's also looking at inquisitor (it turns out I didn't ban Grippli in my race choices, and she's got an idea.)

I'd be wary if the inquisitor worships a deity that doesn't play nice with Erastil. As Daen said, sometimes people butt heads right from the start, or worse - make characters deliberately to vex the paladin. (Of course, jerk players tend to do this to anyone, but paladins seem to be an easy and poplar target.) I'm all for a bit of party conflict - it keeps things interesting - but since this is my first time playing a paladin, I'm wondering how safe I can play.

I'd be fine with a fifth player, provided I'm not being overstepped. :P

Here's my thoughts regarding a fifth player, and on classes:

1. You guys have been doing fine with the encounters as played by-the-book, and I'm thinking of leveling you soonish. That, combined with a fifth, would let me scale the encounters up a bit and still keep it fun but challenging.

2. A fifth character is, by definition, going to infringe on people's roles in a balanced party. The goal for me (and for the other player, who I'm PMing with) is to minimize that as much as possible.

3. If an inquisitor, she's planning on avoiding religious conflict. She's considering either Erastil or Shelyn as gods at the moment.

4. The bard would, I feel, overlap with the party more, but it would also support it well.

@Kaz: What do you mean by how safe you can play? Like, how much conflict can you have with party members without falling? You'll get a divine visit (a dream or a vision or something) if your actions are out of line, and you'll only fall without warning if you're actions are truly vile. I'm aware that paladins are mortal and flawed and make mistakes, and so are the gods.

@Luthor: Do you have thoughts on a fifth?

@All: I'd like to invite her to the discussion thread to start talking about ideas and figuring out concepts that work well with the party. Yes or no? By the way, we're still a couple weeks away from Oleg's (real time), so there's no need to rush this decision.

I vote for bringing her into the discussion thread. I really want to hear this Grippli idea!

Im generally a fan of 5 player parties. Btw, Witches dont have much in the way of damage spells and are mostly about control, so we have that covered.

Inviting Hmm to the discussion thread!

Hello All --

Hmm here! Since you all gave your real names in discussion sometime earlier, I'll tell you my name is Hilary and I'm from a librarian from Minnesota. Laliytsa knows me from a We Be Goblins campaign that went off the rails and turned into a full-fledged PBP musical.

I have two ideas for characters.

Inquisitor Idea:

My first concept is a storytelling grippli sacred huntsmaster inquisitor named Feodor Longtongue that rides around on his animal and drops nets on enemies. I like Feodor a lot from an RP / story perspective. He's got a backstory, and I think he'd be fun.

The cons against him:

• He won't blend into the local area;
  
• He won't have all knowledge skills as class skills;
  
• Both his intimidate and his combat will suffer from his small size;
  
• He is not an ARM, which is the main thing your party lacks from a combat perspective.

• He'll be great at identifying monsters, diplomacy, and sense motive;
  
• He'll have high mobility;
  
• Depending on animal choice, the animal friend might bring combat potential;
  
• He would play nice with Kazimir;
  
• He hopped into my head and amused the heck out of me.

Bard Ideas:

My other idea is a bard -- I haven't named her yet -- either vanilla bard or duettist archetype with familiar. The bard has a ton to offer the party in the way of social skills, knowledges and buffs. She will be either human or appear to be human (aasimar or kitsune). I have different ideas for all three, depending on race choice, so I'm being a little bit more vague here. However, I do think that bard might be a better fit for the party's needs.

If we do go bard, I will fill in a back story and personality that will be a lot of fun.

Cons: None that I can think of...

Pros:

• Better Ability to Blend into World and Party
  
• Awesome Social Skills
  
• Awesome Knowledges
  
• Good Buffs

So what brings a frog to the cold north? If you can come up with a good answer to that question, this could really work for me. It seems like that character is much more fleshed out, and the Sacred Huntmaster is a potent archetype. Nets are terribly useful, and animal companions have that upgrade from the archetype that will definitely contribute. I agree that it would be a decent fit for the party, but perhaps not really in the world department.

The bard is cool from a mechanics standpoint, but there's no meat on the bones. A kitsune bard would be interesting, because it could be high charisma without necessarily wanting the spotlight that a ruler would have to endure. I like the Duettist archetype as well, and we might even have possible familiars running around with us as we speak, although we'll need a few more levels under our belts before we can have a Faerie dragon familiar.

Other options are good too, perhaps you could even be an old acquaintance, friend or relative of someone already in the group as well. We've already had a guy show up just because he was late, it might be a bit tired to do it again. I'm the kind of guy that likes a good fit for the story, and then we'll work out the rest later.

Daen --

You're right that the frog just leaped into my head, and has a richer personality right now. But don't worry about the bard lacking a backstory or personality. I'm a writer -- I spin story and personality almost effortlessly.

Background details Froggy Inquistor:

Feodor is being driven here by a vision by his god. He's also got some loss in his background, and can't return to his home. I haven't decided if he got exiled for religious differences, or something else.

Background details Kitsune Bard:

Miko is an escaped slave on the run. She's fled into the River Kingdoms from Cheliax, and she's wanted back by her owner because she's valuable property. The party can find her when they're dealing with bandits. Or perhaps she's fled from the bandits you killed into the faerie forest. If so, Tyg and Perli have seen her. She's "the pretty lady who sings nice but doesn't look the same all the time." She's a good person, but she's a shapeshifter and a bit of a liar.

Background details Human or Aasimar Bard:

She comes back to escort Svetlana, as one of Svetlana's friends from her naughty Calistra-worshipping days. (Our bard'll likely not be a Calistra worshipper, but Shelyn.) She's here to record history in the making, and collect stories for an epic. She's a dancer (and has maybe done naughty burlesque stuff in the past?) and a slightly naive chipper idealist full of bubbly ideas about adventure and the frontier. Unfortunately Oleg is not happy to see anyone from Svetlana's old life. Not wanting her at his trading post full-time, he foists her off on all of you.

I'm not sure of her name -- I might recycle Cyanne Miller's alias for her, especially if I go with the aasimar.

Yeah, well all these characters look good to me now. Daen would be really uncomfortable around the dancer, which might end up being RP gold. I'm not really sure how he'd deal with the escaped kitsune slave, he's not really against slavery, so I guess it would depend on the situation and how she became a slave in the first place. And the frog is no trouble for him at all. He'd simply look at the situation practically.

I'm cool with recycling aliases. I do it myself all the time. If I were to vote on the info we have now, I'd want the Aasimar Bard because of hijinks and shenanigans. I'd really be fine with any of them though.

My original version of Cyanne had an epic death in a Lost City campaign. She looks like an aasimar already with all that blue hair, doesn't she?

Daen would be really uncomfortable around the dancer, which might end up being RP gold.

That amuses me, too. I'd want to make sure that Kazimir and Luthor would be okay, too. Especially Luthor, since Cyanne would be an azata-blooded aasimar like the Oracle he had formerly proposed.

I'm not really sure how he'd deal with the escaped kitsune slave, he's not really against slavery, so I guess it would depend on the situation and how she became a slave in the first place.

Fair enough. I've got a whole backstory for this involving the Kintargo Opera house and... actually, it would be a while before all of you got the full back story out of Miho. It's not something she'd exactly advertise.

And the frog is no trouble for him at all. He'd simply look at the situation practically.

Feodor is definitely a strong little personality. I see him carrying himself with both earnestness and gravitas. "Madam, you may kiss me if you wish, but I assure you I will never turn into a prince."

_____________________________

I'm good with any of these options. I want to know what the group thinks, though!

I would also likely enjoy the Bard, mostly because she and Luthor would get along really well, Luthor sharing her personality, based on the short description. Daens discomfort and what that may entail is just icing.

As for the Azata-blooded bit, I wouldnt have thought about it if you hadnt mentioned it. I dont have any monopoly on anything, do what works for you.

While I find the frog intriguing, I cant say im a fan simply because its "too weird", kinda like Ratfolk. That said, I can certainly accommodate and dont want the choice to be overly swayed by what I think If you really want to play it, go for it.

Feodor looks like a lot of fun, and I've always been attached to quirky characters. It seems you're really attached to the idea, as well, which is great.

Miko would probably cause a bit of tension with Kaz at first, simply because a liar and trickster goes against a lot of what he's used to. Likewise with Cyanne's history. That said, while there might be some butting of heads at first, I think the both sound fun.

Cyanne, in particular, would probably make the awkward, simple farm boy all kinds of uncomfortable, which would be fun :P

Allowing you guys to have multiple votes:

I'm hearing three strong votes for Cyanne, two votes for Feodor, and not much excitement for Miko.

Laliytsa and Christian, what are your thoughts?

I really like Cyanne as well. Others have basically said why.

@All: Don't forget we're in combat, in surprise rounds, in the gameplay thread. Everyone (except the boars) has an action, then we'll do normal rounds.

Noted. Just been pretty busy.

Okay then. If Laliytsa approves, I'll build Cyanne.

Pft, I would approve of anything you picked. But, being that making a bard gives you an excuse to write more songs, I VERY much approve of it :)

Snerk

You know, Lalyiytsa, that none of the rest of them have any idea what you've signed them up for with the song thing... You have an evil streak, my dear.

Okay, that's my cue to start building Cyanne. Crunch is almost done. I need to start spinning her backstory and figure out her feat and traits. Two traits -- right? Does one of them have to be campaign?

Hmm

PS Christian, a bunch of questions:

1) There's been some disagreement about the age of aasimar, and talk of errating them to human life span... How old are aasimar in your world? is Breadth of Experience available to aasimar? If so, I'll take it and figure out how to get Hero Lab to accept the feat despite the prereqs.

2) If not, I'll probably go with flag bearer, which is still an awesome choice, and totally legal!

3) May I dot gameplay by posting as Cyanne and then deleting my post so there is no interruption of your gameplay thread? This will let me track your gameplay thread much easier.

4) How much money? Is it 150 or rolled starting wealth or some other number?

@Cyanne: Just Chris, or Aest, please. The full name is Christopher.

1) I've read some of those threads on Aasimar/Tiefling aging, and I know James Jacobs would rather have even had elves age less quickly, but I'm going to go with what it says in the ARG just for the sake of keeping things simpler. 60 is adulthood, and I have no problem with you taking Breadth of Experience since it was clearly intended to be age-based, not race-based.

2) Flagbearer is cool too.

3) Absolutely.

4) I believe I gave Luthor and Kazimir 350? I think? The idea was that wealth would balance out when the other two got paid from Svetlana's trip to town.

Oops! I'm terrible with names! Sorry, Chris!

Thanks for the blessing on breadth of experience. I'll fiddle with Hero Lab and see if I can get it to take the feat...

BTW, I had Cyanne dance into your gameplay thread, and then dance out again without anyone noticing.

Perform Dance: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Untrained Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Backstory seeds

Okay, so Cyanne is a miller's daughter who went off to explore fame and fortune in the big bad city, and had a great time doing so. Despite the naughtiness of her act, she's still really optimistic and upbeat.

I just spent a little time on the Pathfinder Wikia researching the area near where Kingmaker is set. You all got a Charter from the nation of Brevoy, the Capitol of which is New Stetven, a city big enough to be the big, wicked city where Cyanne did her burlesque act. Did she know Svetlana from there?

I'm guessing that Cyanne may actually have spent her childhood in Restov? I'm thinking that's where Cyanne's family mill had been located, and since Restov is the place where Svetlana goes to get trade goods, it is clearly where she and Cyanne met up.

I'm thinking that Cyanne may have been back in town for a funeral. After a few decades of being away, she came home because the last of her parents died (the sucky part of being an aasimar.) Unfortunately, she doesn't fit in with her middle-aged (or older) siblings... She wanted to take off, and seeing her old friend Svetlana again made a fine excuse.

I'll let you craft your backstory as you see fit. I'm pretty hands-off, with one (usual) exception. I'd like to see at least three NPCs that I have permission to use (or not).

EDIT: I have a backstory for Svetlana written up. It's just a paragraph, but it may help with your build. If you'd like, I can PM it to you.

I would love Svetlana's backstory. Also, it's no problem having me come up with NPCs you can use. I've already tied myself in with Svetlana! I'll come up with three others.

Cyanne's originally from Restov, even if she spent years elsewhere.

I have an initial version of Cyanne's crunch here. I'm debating replacing timely inspiration with grease in my spells known. Still working on the background, which is not in yet...

On a casual look-over, I don't see any problems with it. If the others would like to take a look, that'd be good too.

I'll be MIA until Friday, as I have a temporary job that's taking me into the mountains for a few days sampling plants for large wildlife impact.

The Ukele in her inventory is a Ukulele right? I love that.

It is a ukulele. I mistyped it. She doesn't have the skill trained, mind... but I figure that if she sings she rolls the normal song performance, and just takes ten on the perform strings. She sort of strums it as a background music thing for her vocals.

I'm working now on the backstory. Poor Luthor has had to deal with a deluge of emails because we have a common element in our backgrounds.

Chris, have a good time on your job in the mountains!

Chris --

I tried to research how long elves spend in their toddler years to get a sense whether aasimar aging is proportional to humans all the way through, or whether they go through a normal length infancy and toddler period, and then slow down as they reach the age of five or so.

There's nothing that I can find in conventional Pathfinder literature. Even the "Meet the Iconics" blog on Meriisel begins her story as a half-way competent street kid. However, most of the posters that I've seen like to give the long-lived races human-length infancy and toddler years, with a slow down for the rest of childhood and adolescence, so that is what I'm going with for Cyanne.

Mainly because a human family would go completely off the deep end with a child spending 8 years as an infant to toddler...

I hope this works for you!

Hmm

Chris and Everyone Else --

Cyanne now has a backstory. Yay!

I realize that I still owe all of you my three NPCs -- while there are loads of NPCs mentioned briefly in my backstory, none of them are detailed in very well!

Yeah this is pretty much what's happening now

I was thinking of regaling you all with my boar-fighting song, and then noticed that Daen is completely down.

I think I'll wait until after we find out that y'all survived...

Boars, man. Boars.

I mean, they're CR 2, but I didn't expect THAT kind of damage.

Boars are evil. Doesn't matter if it's real life or in a game, they're eeeviiiiiillllll.

It looks pretty nasty. And you only have one Paladin and a witch left to fight the two that are left.

I think I'm going to be seeing you guys back at the trading post sooner rather than later.

Any chance that Perli can hit a boar with euphoric cloud to make it stop charging?

______________________

BTW, Chris, is my background okay so far?

Now I'm wondering what to do. Self-preservation says run like hell, but paladin. Considering, since I'm on a combat-trained horse, trying to somehow draw them away from Daen so someone can drag him to safety, but I'm not sure how that wold work - a ride-by attack on one of them?

Daen isn't down. He's disabled, which is effectively staggered. At least for now.

Luthor to the rescue!

Oh definitely Ride By Attack. That's what you do. Also, combat trained horse has a few HP to soak up damage, which we could use up front about now. If you can get around to the other side, we could flank them now that Daen's back to full (thanks Luthor) and see if we can't take em down.

And yeah, Boars are a bit rough. First level characters kinda play rocket tag though. That's just how it is. It's just that Boars can take a couple rockets...

Go Luthor! And yes, Ride by attack!

Good luck guys! I'm cheering you from afar!

*cracks knuckles*

Ride-by attack it is! Luthor gets so many brownie points right now, too :P

*BowsGraciously*

Man, those boars LOVE Daen. :(

Go Paladin Power! Go Perli with Euphoria Attack! Go Daen with swishy sword moves and Laliytsa with her bow and Luthor with spellicious goodness!

Meanwhile, back at the Trading Post, a blue haired bard with a ukulele starts singing:

When our heroes went touring,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
Three boars came a warring
Raging, snarling, roaring
Hoping to do them all in!

From the ceiling to the flooring
Sing rickety-tickety-tun
Our audience now deploring
Songs with neither drinks nor whoring
Now imploring: "Oh, bard be done!"

Oh man, that's brilliant. I really hope this isn't all you've got, because wow.

In my own short-lived Kingmaker campaign, the party bard's player wrote up a song to the tune of this, titled The Heroes of Restov, the Glorious Five. But this is something else. I'm very impressed!

Thank you!

There are more songs coming... I can't stop myself from writing them. Ask Laliytsa about We Be Goblins: the Musical.

<-- Applauds!

I'm thinking bard was the optimal choice. Not to say the Grippli wouldn't have been memorable too, but this is very nice. I do have to say that bards are fun on PBP because you can take as much time as you need for a song or poem or artful phrase that you just can't do in real life unless you have major talent.

I went to the thread you mentioned conserning the WBG: Musical Edition, and that was a good time. I'm looking forward to having this one in the party as well!

Yes as our DM said, he's never seen people have that much fun with a level one module before. It's full of magic and songs and stabbing things in the face. :D

Just as a note I'm leaving early tomorrow morning on vacation. I'll be back on Monday. Bot me as necessary!

*TapsFeetWhileNoddingWithAnApprovingSmile*

Daen, I'm glad that you enjoyed WBG: The Musical. Laliytsa and I have had a blast in that game -- thrilling thefts, slug curses, demon horses, goblin romance, and silly songs galore. We even had a visit from Santa Claws.

(I'm sure that's how goblins would write the name, if they weren't so deathly afraid of the written word.)

Thank you all for your kind comments. Like WBG, this group has a nice set of characters with some great chemistry already in place. I'm really looking forward to the chance of meeting all of you in game!

Please please please tell me Cyanne's going to end up as the high diplomat and deliver all terse diplomatic negotiations in song. With the ukelele, of course. Because the image is just giving me all kinds of giggles.