And here we are. I'm going to post the same stuff I did in the other one, but then I'll have a separate one with adaptation notes.
Here we are then. Some housekeeping things:
In getting your aliases together, I'd like you to throw some stats into the happy gray lines under your name for easy reference. It's a pain to remember how to get stuff to show up properly -I always forget- but the blanks display in this order: Gender, Class/Levels, Race.
Here's a premade blank for you. Just replace the x with your stuff. The three before perception are for any novel senses you have.
Gender:
HP x/x | AC xx, T xx, FF xx | CMD xx | F +x, R +x, W +x | Init +x | xxx; Perception +x
You can do your classes, races, etc too but those are the ones I'm going to need all the time. Generally defensive abilities (immunities, situational bonuses, etc) are more helpful for me there, because you'll remind me of your attacks on-demand. :)
A couple of things I would have put in the chargen but left out because I frontloaded so much:
As is probably expected, I'll be handwaving some stuff and skipping some incidental battles in the name of brevity. It's a long AP and it takes longer via posts. So there may be times where I just have you slay a bunch of random encounters off-screen, as it were.
Rolls
This appears to be a norm in PBP, but I'll say it anyway. So far as is reasonable, I want you to roll all your stuff. When there's a reactive roll or something, I'll do that but in the main you throw your own dice. It's more fun that way. I'll also be giving you the ACs and some other defensive abilities of foes up-front so you can roll against them in the course of your action. That gives you the chance to sell your hits or explain misses, which is something I'm often terrible with.
With things where you expect you may need a skill or other check but aren't sure, it's totally fine by me for you to roll in the post where you ask. That includes if you want to throw all your knowledges at it. I'll pick up the pertinent one or say why it doesn't apply. Occasionally I remember to anticipate those, but more often not. There are many of you and I am a degenerate parasite slowly eating Samnell's brain. :)
Formatting
When speaking IC, please bold text in addition to the quotation marks. That jumps out a bit more from the rest on what are visually fairly noisy boards. Similarly if putting a rules question or something like that in the same post with IC stuff, please use the ooc tags.
The game will use Minion rules in some fights. Here they are
1) Minions will die or be rendered unconscious on a hit by a PC. The PC decides which happens.
2) Minions cannot crit PCs.
3) If a minion fails a save, it’s out of the fight.
4) When in use, especially in mixed groups, I’ll try to mark out minion status so you can plan accordingly.
5) Minions will usually roll things in batches, always initiative and other stuff depending on how many there are and what seems cool at the time. Ten minion skeletons might all roll the same save vs. a fireball, for example.
6) If you want to keep a minion alive for questioning or whatever, you can do so by simple fiat. Say you want to and it happens. It’s even fine to change your mind if you were killing them all previously. The minion was just mostly dead.
7) Boss-type foes might have the ability to sacrifice minions to protect themselves.
And I think that's everything, which means I've forgotten much but it's now your job to remind me. Go go Team Waterdeep!
Woo, Waterdeep! ...I should brush up on it. XD And tweak my backstory, although Saeri probably found plenty of willing customers there...
Thanks so much for choosing me. Wow what an untraditional party. I don't think we have a single character mostly focused on martial stuff. At least the slayer will have the option of picking up trapfinding, though armor might make disabling them rough. I have no idea how much traps there are in this though.
This is the Sword Coast North. It's where the game will mostly be happening in. I think. Waterdeep is at the southern end of the Sword Mountains, at the mouth of the River Dessarin.
Daggerford is on the River Delimbiyr to the south of Waterdeep along the Trade Way. It's the first city south of Waterdeep on the map. This is a brief general history of Daggerford.
There's a fine line to walk here between barfing up mountains of stuff and none at all. I'm going to largely rely on you gentle players to let me know what you need beyond the basics.
First off, names. I came up with Team Waterdeep about thirty seconds before the announcement post went live. As such it's not the most indicative name. The first leg of the game will be in Waterdeep and its environs, broadly construed. You don't get to the city itself until the fourth adventure. I've changed the name to a broader context which holds true for considerably longer.
The fun begins in Daggerford, on the River Delimbiyr, about a hundred and twenty to hundred fifty miles southeast of Waterdeep. Politically, it's very much at the far end of Waterdeep's sphere of influence. It's the Year of the Worm. Only scholars and pedants would likely care that it's also 324 of the Northreckoning (NR), which dates from the founding of Waterdeep.
Daggerford is Dalath. It's a mining town with hills full of tombs and stuff nearby. It used to be ruled, fairly well, by a line of hereditary dukes. The last of these, and all his heirs, were assassinated by persons unknown two years ago. Since then things have really gone to hell. The present leader is Governor-General Lanod Ondabar, of Irieabor (a city far to the southwest, but on the same trade route as Daggerford). He's a retired adventurer who has put his cronies in positions of power and generally runs the government on a retail basis. The Council of Guilds shares power with, and elected, him. The wizard is Delfin "Yellowknife" Ondabar, his brother.
The local religious establishments are of Lathander, Chauntea, Tempus, Tymora, and Tyr. Outside town, you've got Silvanus and monks of the Old Order, which isn't associated with any particular religion.
The nearest elf community is in Ardeep, a remnant of the realm of Illefarn. The dangerous wild nearby is the Lizard Marsh. The tomb-filled hills are the Forlorn Hills.
With the exception of proper name swaps for the NPCs, I think that's all the big stuff.
Ah, a temple of Tempus, patron of the thrice-blessed Lady of Strategy and the Lanceboard, where those who follow the Red Knight may feel welcome. Such lovely climes that Daggerford offers, it makes this stifling armor almost like gossamer. And so close to the city of splendors. This shall be a lovely assignment.
@Haythan: With a dex of 10 I assume you won't be doing much disabling of traps? Though I guess finding them is a good first step. And your character will be awesome at that if you want it.
Are there anyone who think they could work in the ability to disable traps and locks into their build? I could pick up seeker for my oracle next level, but I won't have much spare skill points to put into it before level 6 as various prerequisites require pretty much all of them, but I could probably spare a point at level 2. I'm kinda wary of not having the ability right away though. Maybe I should just switch a point into it already even if it's not a class skill. Anyone else feel it could fit in well for them?
The location in my original background was apparently a mostly half-elven town. I guess it wouldn't be too bad to replace it with elves though. I'll read up on Ardeep.
I guess I should replace the scroll of enlarge person that I picked up. There is no Namtar in the party. Perhaps I can get thives tools instead.
@Haythan: There are two traits named missionary and both give you knowledge religion as a class skill. This one gives a number of other benefits in addition though. Or was that the one you picked? I can't see the spells picked listed on your profile.
Yeah, disabling traps isn't highly likely on my stompy self, though finding them should be easy(er). Heavy armor isn't out of the nature of a Holy Strategist (Red Knight specialty priest back in the day) so I'm eyeing that for later on, though it might conflict with my weapon styles, that's for Samnell to make a call on. It might be best to think of Haytham as a warrior who happens to call on divine aid and has a few skills rather than a priest who can fight.
I picked up the Legacy of Fire Missionary trait, seemed more appropriate at the time. Looking at others to see if anything strikes me the same way.
@Haythan: With a dex of 10 I assume you won't be doing much disabling of traps? Though I guess finding them is a good first step. And your character will be awesome at that if you want it.
Are there anyone who think they could work in the ability to disable traps and locks into their build?
A sprung trap is almost as good as a disabled one. :)
The location in my original background was apparently a mostly half-elven town. I guess it wouldn't be too bad to replace it with elves though. I'll read up on Ardeep.
The elves of Ardeep have lived in fairly close proximity to humans for some centuries now. It's no stretch for there to be a fair number of half-elves. They even had an alliance with local human, dwarf, gnome, and halfling communities a few centuries back. Most of the elves in the region have personal connections to the wood, even if they now live abroad. There are also several ancient elfy things in the forest that they're very protective of. Only the elders of the community know the full details. (They're unlikely to come up in the game.)
The present situation is that the local elves made the choice to Retreat to Evermeet about a decade back. Since then the population has gone down, but not as drastically as you might think. They're elves and they're not in a hurry. Even if they were, it's a given that a significant relic population would remain.
Given that they have the same name I'm sure you can use the flavor of one and the benefit of the other.
Can you open up gameplay so we can post to get this game in our campaign tabs? I plan to just post then delete my post (though you have to avoid deleting yours or it'll make the thread unusable).
@Haytham: I assumed you were mostly a caster since your strength is medium and your wis so high. Sorry for assuming wrong.
Given that they have the same name I'm sure you can use the flavor of one and the benefit of the other.
Can you open up gameplay so we can post to get this game in our campaign tabs? I plan to just post then delete my post (though you have to avoid deleting yours or it'll make the thread unusable).
@Haytham: I assumed you were mostly a caster since your strength is so low and your wis so high. Are you planning on picking up a guided weapon or something then? That's still ways away though.
I don't have an IC beginning for you yet. (That'll come soon, but pending being sure everyone is on board with the setting shift.) I can do a placeholder to let you add yourselves, though. Here it is.
Also reflavoring traits is a-ok.
@Kasyomnite: No worries, high Wis means more buffs and healing spells, which means I can go get stuck in where I like it and keep swinging. The Studied Target also compensates for lower strength, and eventually Sneak Attack and a summoned monster to help flank. And then there's the shield, notice how I treat heavy shields as light weapons? There's going to be some brutal two-weapon fighting down the line.
I'm looking at other campaign traits, I'll have a decision tomorrow at work (overnight security, I'll have plenty of time to think)
Just checking in for now, from mobile. Thanks for the pick, and glad to be with you guys.
I will get everything adapted to the new setting soon.
Yeah I noticed the shield. I was wondering if you would use it for twf and if so how you would qualify, but that's what the ranger combat style does eh? That's kinda cool. You can always just pick extra slayer talent instead of a feat if you want it from a feat...
*Reads a few cards*
So, uh, any suggestions on languages?
While you have the cards out...do you still do requests? I could use a reading...
Hi, Samnell! Thanks for having us, and being so generous as to open up another table. I'll see about adjusting my backstory to fit the environs of Waterdeep sometime today.
Kasyomnite, I'm not sure I can fit it in, and probably not right away, but I'll see if disabling traps can be something for me to do eventually. Spotting them is something else, though.
*Shuffles the deck*
And we're off to an interesting start, aren't we? Your very first card (representing your positive past) is an opposite match, completely across the board from its normal position. The Lost is the Chaotic Evil card of Wisdom, and misaligned this way, it stands for clarity of mind under duress. I dare say you have to have an open mind when you're coming from another world... Cynthia says 'hi'.
The uncertainty of your past is filled by the Beating - the Neutral Evil card of Strength. It stands for an attack from all sides, but this is a very curious placement for it, since the past is usually obvious. But then, he faced challenges both in and out of the game, didn't he?
You have nooooo luck in the past. Here we have a true match - a card that has appeared in its proper position on the board. As the Lawful Evil card of Intelligence, the Rakshasa stands for dominance and mind control, like what happened to that bloody captive we had to rescue and heal. *Coughs* But that's all in the past now, so let's talk about the present.
The positive aspect of your present takes the form of the Publican, who represents the Chaotic Good aspect of Wisdom. He stands for fellowship and camaraderie, and most particularly, the new friends you've made for this adventure. Hooray!
Unfortunately, the Beating is back, and it's in the uncertainty of your present. You may be in for a rough fight pretty soon, but hopefully burning skeletons aren't going to be involved this time, eh? Stick next to a tank.
The negative part of your present is the True Neutral card of Charisma, the Twin. It stands for duality of purpose or identity, and its negative position means it's something best avoided. Do try to forget the past and not remember much of what happened.
You have a very strange tapestry, Janus. This is the second repeat on the board, and more than that, it's a true match as the Publican has moved into his proper place. The meaning is clear enough, though - having friends is good, now and for the foreseeable future. Protect and support your companions, and you'll do well, particularly given the importance of any true match.
The uncertainty of your future is your first aligned card. Representing the charismatic aspect of Neutral Good, the Theater means that prophecy is true. Interestingly, though, its position of future uncertainty essentially means its misaligned meaning - that prophecy is unreliable - is also true. In other words, this card has managed to be both normal and misaligned at the same time. Yidhra thinks this is hilarious.
The negative part of your future is represented by the True Neutral card of Wisdom. The Owl stands for the wisdom of the natural order, but its position here means that too much of what's truly natural may not be to your benefit. Don't be afraid to subvert the normal order of things if you have to.
Your tapestry has quite a few lines in it. Alignment-wise, there's a line of evil in your past, and something negative definitely happened there. Just remember - it IS in the past now. You also have a line of chaos in the positive row - which means you should definitely lean that way, rather being lawful - and a line of neutrality between law and chaos in your uncertain row. This meaning is clear - the more lawful you become, the less certain it is something will help you.
You also have a pair of lines in your attributes, and these are interesting. On the negative line, we see all three of the mental ability scores. This suggests that you should hone your physical talents, rather than focusing solely on magic. At the same time, we have a line of pure wisdom in the positive row, which suggests you should heed the words of the wise.
----
Final Tapestry:
CE | CG | CG
NE | NE | NG
LE | NN | NN
Wis | Wis | Wis
Str | Str | Cha
Int | Cha | Wis
Lost | Publican | Publican
Beating | Beating | Theater
Rakshasa | Twin | Owl
Hi, Samnell! Thanks for having us, and being so generous as to open up another table. I'll see about adjusting my backstory to fit the environs of Waterdeep sometime today.
Kasyomnite, I'm not sure I can fit it in, and probably not right away, but I'll see if disabling traps can be something for me to do eventually. Spotting them is something else, though.
I see you haven't picked an archetype for your oracle side. If you want to disable traps/locks then the Seeker archtype will help out quite a bit. It does replace the 3rd and 15th level relevations as well as the class skills from mystery, but the relevations can be gotten back by feats anyway. It's a nice archtype if you are planning to use your mystery spells a lot.
You'll get more mileage out of the archtype than I will, since i'm only taking 1-2 oracle levels. We really only need one with disable device though, if you are getting it, then I don't need to and visa versa. If I were to pick it, I would have +3 at level 1, +7 at level 2 (+10 with guidance and masterwork tools), but pretty much stay there until level 6, where it would increase by 5 or so, then continue to go up as we level. What would you be looking at instead and would you give up much to get it?
2 oracles, a cleric, a wizard, a witch, a sorcerer and a magus. And I'm going oracle next level folllowed by rage prophet. Well, we certainly got magic covered.
Heya guys! I'm just going to set up a proper profile then I'll join in the fun : )
There! Some stuff to fix (equipment, adjust story and an informative header and so on) but at least it's an alias :P
@Traps - Sadly Lucrecia's plan A has been foiled seeing as slaves are outlawed here. But maybe one of us could take up rabbit-breeding?
*Might* be able to pick up the Archaeologist (aka rogue lite) archetype, but that would require some shuffling around. It would mesh with my desire to spend actions stabbing people (swift action performances!) but it screws with Versatile Performance and well all the normal funny performances : P
Oh and on that topic;
@Focus - Stabbing!
While archeologist is an awesome archtype (especially if you have no other use for your swift actions), your bardic performance will help out everyone except Chaïa, so it's going to be pretty good. If you don't want to spend actions on performing, I would suggest the Duettist archtype. That does get versatile performance as well. I think going with one of the two other options is probably better.
Despite the feat to make my attack/damage passable and the mostly martial bent on one side of the gestalt, my character will primarily be focused on battlefield control through spells. His skill with the Starknife will mostly be used for parrying, though I might pick up named bullet once we get that far. Thinking about it, that spell might be even more fitting/fun for Saeri. It sounds quite cool to write someone's name on a card in order to have it cause a fantastic explosion once it hits it's target.
Duettist (especially combined with the Eldritch Guardian fighter archetype; gestalted familiar!) did cross my mind. But if I'm going down that road I'd probably like an Improved Familiar eventually and I haven't devised a way to make the normal->improved switch feel good without being overly cheesy.
Other things that crossed my mind was the Dawnflower Dervish archetype, preferably without the religious baggage, just because the quicker activation of the performances. That one is a tad bit egoistic though : P
Maybe I should just do this;
Would your character regularly benefit from the Inspire Courage performance?
(As in "Yeah I do plan to do my best and stab people most combat rounds" or "Yeah I'm going to summon a horde of rabid rabbits to gnaw my enemies to death" :P)
Kasyomnite: Will benefit from inspire courage by making opportune riposte and parry better.
Saeri: Can neither spell combat, nor spellstrike without attacking.
Janus: Probably primarily melee, though channeling is an option, even if it's not the primary focus.
Haytham: Two weapon fighting and summoning can both benefit quite a bit.
Aye, there is plenty that could use it. Question is if they are planning to : P
For example, by the sounds of it, it doesn't look like Kasyomnite will actively seek out melee combat.
Though I'll agree that anyone looking for two-weapon fighting probably wants all the +to hit they can get!
Kasyomnite can still run up to them, feint with his knife and when they try to dodge out of the way, he'll hit them with an fountain of colors right in the face (well technically that doesn't work as he won't get any of the feint feats nor spellcombat, but I can still fluff it that way).
Saeri's gonna take a little bit to really get going, I'm afraid. XD My plan is for a fair bit of buffing and debuffing delivered at range. In the meantime, I've got Evil Eye and can flick normal cards with decent accuracy. ^^
*Reads a few cards*
So, uh, any suggestions on languages?
That is a good question.
Chondathan replaces Untheric as the everyday language. You're free to swap it out. The local accent has a singsong intonation, which increases the further south one gets. The second human tongue of the area would be Illuskan, which is spoken in the lands north of Waterdeep.
The local ethnicity is Tethyrian, with the largest minority also being Illuskan. Tethyrians are the ancestors of multiple peoples that suffered ancient oppressions and as such tend to distrust magic and great powers. Think fantasy Europeans keen on what they understand to be their freedoms. These aren't formal rights like we have, but more a cultural tradition of resistance and mind-your-own-business.
The Illuskans also distrust magic, but they're basically fantasy Norsemen, except with a much larger inland presence and a healthy mix of Conan.
Duettist (especially combined with the Eldritch Guardian fighter archetype; gestalted familiar!) did cross my mind. But if I'm going down that road I'd probably like an Improved Familiar eventually and I haven't devised a way to make the normal->improved switch feel good without being overly cheesy.
We could flavor imp familiar as some kind of magical evolution. rather than as a swap and replace.
That reminds me of the spellcombat discussion there was earlier. I didn't give my opinion as it might not matter, but now it'll definetly come into play:
Normally spell combat specifies melee weapons, however not melee attacks. Hence spell combat can normally be used with say a thrown starknife, but not a melee attack from a chakram. The Spell Hurling enchantment supports this interpretation.
This means a Card Caster could RAW use spell combat and harrowed spellstrike with thrown daggers. It seems really weird that they build an archtype for cards, yet it only works with daggers and starknives and the like. I think this is an oversight and RAI you should be able to use cards just as well as you do daggers. It helps a lot that the archtype Eldritch Archer exists and sets a precedent. They are certainly not opposed to the idea of ranged spell combat, though here it is with a bow instead of thrown weapons. I'll ask you Samnell to reconsider and let Saeri have the ranged spell combat (perhaps only allowing spell combat with cards?). I don't think she'll outshine the rest of us and it'll certainly make things more fun to not have to juggle abilities that not quite work.
I see you haven't picked an archetype for your oracle side. If you want to disable traps/locks then the Seeker archtype will help out quite a bit. It does replace the 3rd and 15th level relevations as well as the class skills from mystery, but the relevations can be gotten back by feats anyway. It's a nice archtype if you are planning to use your mystery spells a lot.
You'll get more mileage out of the archtype than I will, since i'm only taking 1-2 oracle levels. We really only need one with disable device though, if you are getting it, then I don't need to and visa versa. If I were to pick it, I would have +3 at level 1, +7 at level 2 (+10 with guidance and masterwork tools), but pretty much stay there until level 6, where it would increase by 5 or so, then continue to go up as we level. What would you be looking at instead and would you give up much to get it?
2 oracles, a cleric, a wizard, a witch, a sorcerer and a magus. And I'm going oracle next level folllowed by rage prophet. Well, we certainly got magic covered.
I've got a Wisdom penalty and Perception is not a class skill on either side of my gestalt, while skills feel a bit tight, so I was just thinking of taking the "Trap-finder" trait and refluffing it, adding the Overprotective drawback. I might be a decent magical hacker that way, but someone else will need to do the actual spotting. Between spells, I think I should be able to make up bonuses to both Perception and Disable Device without giving up revelations.
@Evolution flavouring - Mm. That's usually the standard solution, always leaves me feeling a bit like an out-of-place pokemon trainer. Though, mind you, I do love both familiars and pokemon ^^
Would you mind if I retrained into Eldritch Guardian come a later date, should I be inclined to do so?
@Languages - Incidentally, those were Lu's starting picks! (It's interesting how widespread Chondathan is in the realms)
All right, in addition to Chondathan and Illuskan, I decided to grab High Dwarvish, Regal Elfin, and Seelie. I figured that Saeri would like to be fluent when dealing with non-human customers, since a lot of Harrowing is putting on a good show. XD Her Charisma is only a bit above average, so she's emphasizing wit over charm.
Oooh oooh!
I was too slow in the recruitment thread to get an harrowing - would you mind preforming one for Lu now : )?
I'd be happy to. ^^
And your very first result is an aligned card! These have special significance for you, of course. The Chaotic Neutral card of Wisdom is the carnival, and it stands for illusions and false dreams. Now, normally that would be a bad thing - but it's placed as an important and positive part of your past. I dare say the dreams you had as a child - even the far-fetched ones - helped you grow.
The uncertainty of your past is represented by the Lawful Good card of Dexterity, the Dance. It stands for staying in perfect harmony, but in this place of uncertainty, it means your attempts to fit in with others in the Dales may not have worked so well. You should consider the lessons of your youth and what really matters.
The negative part of your past is represented by your first attribute card - the Neutral Good card of Strength. However, it's misaligned here, so the Keep is telling us that temptation was stronger. The meaning of that is pretty clear, given how you lost all of your money on frivolous things. Still, it's a fairly mild past overall - I've seen much worse.
Okay, now things are getting interesting. The positive part of your present is represented by another attribute card - the Neutral Evil card of Strength. However, the Beating is an opposite match here, which is almost as important as a true match. It stands for hidden strength under assault. I believe there is a challenge you will soon face, but this auspicious position means you will find the strength to overcome it.
The uncertainty of your present takes the form of another Neutral Evil card - this time, of Dexterity. The Crows speak of the taking of loved ones or items. Of course, you're far from your family, so it seems more likely that a potential theft looms over you. Fortunately, it's in the place of uncertainty - guard yourself and your things well, and you will likely be able to avoid it.
The negative part of your present takes the form of the Snakebite. As the Chaotic Evil card of Intelligence, it stands for poisonous powers or ideas. I'd stay away from both if I were you - if you listen to them or let them affect you, it will not go well.
The positive part of your future is represented by the Lawful Neutral card of Strength - another attribute card. The Forge represents strength through diversity. Don't focus all of your power and ability onto one thing - spread your knowledge wide, and you will ultimately be more successful.
Your role spot on the board - the uncertainty of your future - takes the form of the Lawful Evil card of Dexterity. The Avalanche stands for unthinking, unrelenting disaster - but in the place of uncertainty, the cards clearly clearly think it's avoidable. ...Try to avoid walking under ceilings that might collapse.
The negative part of your future... oh my. The Desert is the Chaotic Good card of Constitution, but it's misaligned - it stands for a passage with little hope. Of course, it must be understood in the context of the previous card - your passage has little hope, but the danger is not guaranteed. Do not give up on looking for a way out.
Now, then... there are a few important lines that the cards have drawn. As far as alignment goes, there is evil in your present - be on guard for it, and do not let it seduce you. I also see two lines in your attributes. The first is a line of Dexterity that crosses the row of uncertainty - you may ponder the benefits of becoming more agile, but it's not at all clear if this will be a good idea. On the other hand, we also see a line of the three physical abilities in your future. You would definitely do well to focus on your physical powers over your magic.
---
Final Tapestry:
CN | NE | LN
LG | NE | LE
NG | CE | CG
Wis | Str | Str
Dex | Dex | Dex
Str | Int | Con
Carnival | Beating | Forge
Dance | Crows | Avalanche
Keep | Snakebite | Desert
Interesting. Thanks : )
So the Harrowing things I should probably 'spread' Lu a bit wider and not focus on just hitting things, so I guess that means I should share those sweet +hits to you guys too...
(Also Lu invested her monies in silly things, not lost, clearly :P)
@Saeri - Thanks a lot for the reading harrowing ^_^ Very amusing, and I will follow it. Except, of course...the twin has a very special meaning for Janus. One that overrides what harrowing rules may state.
I am also glad that Yidhra is amused, because I know what happens if she's angry - so amused must be preferable. The burning skeletons did come to mind...considering I am once again a melee character with channel-ing.
Alas, now I can parry them. So thats good.
"@Party - Would your character regularly benefit from the Inspire Courage performance?"
"Yeah I do plan to do my best and stab people most combat rounds"
While someone else attempted to answer for me, I feel I should answer myself - a regular role, especially in the team as it stands, will be frontlining, and getting my to-hit as high as reasonably possible, to make more iteratives connect and make Opportunate Parry&Riposte likely to succeed. Damage will come from Swashbuckler Levels, Dex, and Weapon Specialization, plus Falcata Crits hurt.BUT: Later on, my role may be altered by whatever daily spirit I bond with. Depending on choice, I may have Fireballs, Circles of Death, or Prismatic Sprays available, to name a few options. Janus will, on the oracle side, primarily focus on buffing/debuff removal, with healing a given(with the free spells and mystery spells), but with the human FCB he'll pick up more spells known, so some disablers or enemy control spells will be among them. The DC's will not be very high, considering he is Dex-Focused, but if he manages to target a weak save, he can still do well, there.
(But not focus on it, as Saeri's harrowing has shown)
ALSO: The strenght penalty and the fact he does not plan on picking up Feats for it make using a bow an inferior choice. But, due to the nature of Automatic Point Progression, by "bonding" with his Falcata, he is free to use e.g. a flaming holy bow (unattuned), depending on dex and bab to hit. In fact, it's likely that his Falcata will remain "pure" attuned, using the full available bonus as a flat enhancement bonus. As such, if he spends money on an enchanted weapon, it would likely be the bow as a back-up.
CONCLUSION (TL:DR): I would definitely benefit from Bardic Performances, and would appreciate their availability.
On a more serious level... Swordlord is an interesting archetype, and as a Fighter, you'll already be pretty darn good at hitting stuff. XD I'd definitely focus your bardic powers on things that either help the whole party or aren't about killing things better. Solving more problems is, in general, better than solving the same problem a bit better than before.
(Personally, I always try to build for diversity in gestalt, rather than specialization. XD Things get... weird... if you're too much stronger than the system expects.)
All right, in addition to Chondathan and Illuskan, I decided to grab High Dwarvish, Regal Elfin, and Seelie. I figured that Saeri would like to be fluent when dealing with non-human customers, since a lot of Harrowing is putting on a good show. XD Her Charisma is only a bit above average, so she's emphasizing wit over charm.
Is Seelie the same as Sylvan? Isn't elven and dwarven more common than the higher versions? I doubt you'll have many royal customers.
@"Barding" - It's mostly the standard action to start that feels unappealing, if I'm honest : P (Though 4d10 +x4ConBonus extra health every round is also tempting!^^)
But at the moment it's leaning towards Duettist to spread the joy, with perhaps a retrain into Eldritch Guardian later on.
@Swordlord - Eventually, with Crane Riposte and the one-handed weapon trick, enemies provokes AoOs for hitting, missing by 4 or less and missing by 5 or more! Almost a Swashbuckler then : P
@Kasyomnite: I was using this page as a guide, since I'm not actually that familiar with the area. XD I've read a few novels, but that's about it. So I'm sorta hoping that list is mostly accurate and rolling with it from there.
Ah, I didn't think languages were that radically different for other races. I thought just the regional languages would be different. Normally gnomes start with common, gnome and sylvan. Here gnomes doesn't even have their own language and what passes for Sylvan is probably reorganized into other languages. So if we are using those languages, which ones would I start with (before int/linguistics)?
It all depends on the rules we're actually using. For all I know, that list is totally wrong for this game. XD
Right, I've adjusted my background for Daggerford and area, and since folks seemed kind of worried about it, I've adjusted my trait selection to get Disable Device. I'm still primarily a magical theorist (read: absent-minded scholar), so someone like Haytham will still have to point me in the right direction, or everyone in general will be trying to point this elf towards anything that looks suspicious. (I'm guessing a lot of aid another checks!) :)
As for "barding," I'd rather avoid getting in too close, but I can see myself having to set up flanking at some point (which is why I picked up Weapon Finesse), and even with rays and such a better chance to hit would not be unappreciated. Mainly, though, I think I'll be trying to do support and battle-field control, but I've never played a full caster out of very low levels, so any advice will be appreciated, though quite possibly sacrificed on the altar of chaos.
Saeri, if you have time, I wouldn't mind a Harrowing at some point, but it can be in the game as such, to help flesh out how all we yahoos get to know each other.
I can do it anytime you want. o wo/ In-game, out-of-game, whatever you think would be fun.
I was actually thinking it would really fun to have the opening scene be us all crowding in somewhere to get readings then all of a sudden someone shows up and go like. "You there, are you up for a job?"
@Chaïa: Since you said any advice would be appreciated: You don't need weapon finesse to set up flanking, you only need a weapon in hand (may I suggest a spiked gauntlet). My advice would be to skip the Weapon Finesse unless you are planning to use melee touch spells. There are several decent options for low level casters (even if the truly exciting options aren't til later).
If you want, I can produce a longer list of advice of where to take things.
@Evolution flavouring - Mm. That's usually the standard solution, always leaves me feeling a bit like an out-of-place pokemon trainer. Though, mind you, I do love both familiars and pokemon ^^
There are variants. Maybe your current whatever is an immature version. It's statted like a squirrel but could be a pseudodragon or something. I could also douse it with magical elf waters or something IC.
Would you mind if I retrained into Eldritch Guardian come a later date, should I be inclined to do so?
You can swap out down the road.
@Kasyomnite: I was using this page as a guide, since I'm not actually that familiar with the area. XD I've read a few novels, but that's about it. So I'm sorta hoping that list is mostly accurate and rolling with it from there.
Looks like it's not. There are multiple languages for elves and dwarves in the setting, but they're all long dead even by elf standards. Gnomes and halflings do have their own tongues, but their linguistic history isn't as developed as the others. So elf is elf, dwarf is dwarf, gnome is gnome, etc.
For faerie creatures, you'd want Sylvan.
That reminds me of the spellcombat discussion there was earlier. I didn't give my opinion as it might not matter, but now it'll definetly come into play:
Normally spell combat specifies melee weapons, however not melee attacks. Hence spell combat can normally be used with say a thrown starknife, but not a melee attack from a chakram. The Spell Hurling enchantment supports this interpretation.
This means a Card Caster could RAW use spell combat and harrowed spellstrike with thrown daggers. It seems really weird that they build an archtype for cards, yet it only works with daggers and starknives and the like. I think this is an oversight and RAI you should be able to use cards just as well as you do daggers. It helps a lot that the archtype Eldritch Archer exists and sets a precedent. They are certainly not opposed to the idea of ranged spell combat, though here it is with a bow instead of thrown weapons. I'll ask you Samnell to reconsider and let Saeri have the ranged spell combat (perhaps only allowing spell combat with cards?). I don't think she'll outshine the rest of us and it'll certainly make things more fun to not have to juggle abilities that not quite work.
You know what? It's not going to break anything. Let's go ahead with spell combat + cards.