Sentinels of the Woodlands

Game Master Matt Adams 259

Deep in Pan's Woods, there is a gathering of creatures sheltered from the world of men. Taught but not shown the world around them, these people have spent their lives under the tutelage of Dion, the Satyr. But forces from outside their comfortable, timeless home will force these beings to confront a world that calls them monsters.

-I'm looking for 6 players to partake in a "good" monster adventure.
-Race: Any paizo race or monster of CR 2 or less. 1/2 CR monsters get 2 class levels, 1 CR monsters get a class level, and 2 CR monsters get no levels to start.
-Class: Any Paizo. Will look at 3rd party stuff.
-No alignments. However, if you want to play something that relies on alignment, like a paladin, I'll talk with you about a conversion.
-20pt buy Only one stat above a 16 before racials. No stat above an 18 or below a 6.
-No traits.
-All characters will start with Sylvan as a language. Common is not automatically known.
-I realize that backstories will be pretty constrained since everyone is still in the forest, however I would like a short personality write up for role play guidance.

Hopefully, this game will last a little while.

Sounds like a really cool concept! I am thinking of several different ideas:

1 - fey creature raised to classic "hero" ideals (brownie swashbuckler, leprechaun)
2 - human-born horror cast into the wilderness raised not knowing its origins (half-ogre or mongrelman, probably ranger, hunter, or warpriest)
3 - natural born lycanthrope, possibly hobgoblin for race

Need to play around with each and see if any jump out at me! Though, with a lot of the monstrous races, getting an 18 is pretty easy, so you may want to reconsider that top threshold.

Consider this dotted.

So question, how does point buy work with a preexisting creature? Just since you mentioned it, and some monsters have like 18s in multiple stats, and others have 13 as their highest score. You mentioned racial modifiers but obviously those aren't that apparent in monster listings.

I found this thing for 3.5 that maybe might be helpful if you don't already have a system? Under "Ability scores for Monster PCs"

Interested though. Possibly psuedodragon wizard?

Determining the ability score modifiers for races without class levels is actually quite easy - if its an even score subtract 10, an odd score subtract 11. This will give you the ability score modifier for each stat.

It was supposed to say one stat over 16 and no stat over 18 before racials. I'm aiming for balanced characters stat-wise.

I'd like to be an ogrekin (half-human) barbarian. Is that okay? I can put relatively low points into my base Str and Con to offset the increases to avoid the giant stat bonuses you don't want. I'm wondering a bit about the specifics because you say different CRs get different amounts of levels and being an ogrekin increases CR by +1. An ogrekin is just a Medium humanoid with class levels, but it also grants a CR increase. So many levels would that give me? Or should I just stop considering it?

Actually, forget the ogrekin, I'm thinking up a Paracletus, Silvanshee, or Arbiter who'll eventually gain levels in cleric or sorcerer.

It's funny, I was thinking the other day about playing a sasquatch. This would fit ideally into this campaign.

Would an awakened animal be possible?

OK, how are Hp calculated? Max all levels, Max 1st+High avg for the rest, Max first+roll thereafter, roll all?

Also, how would I calculate starting equipment? a Normal sasquatch gets a tree-trunk club, is that what I start with? or do I assume I have access to some more sophisticated gear by my association with Dion?

Hmm, dot...

Awakened Animals are a possibility.
HP is max first HD, even if it's a racial HD, average the rest.

Would you entertain the thought of a Faun Warlord?

The class is third party.

I will allow the warlord.

Standard starting wealth for 2nd level characters. Which is 1000gp. Clubs are free, so the Sasquatch gets his tree branch club regardless.

dotting

Definitely interested, thinking up personality/goals/whatnot for a pseudodragon wizard.

I like the idea of having a wizard that is the same size as his spellbook haha

Toying with the idea of an awakened raven witch.

Oh dear lord.

Zombie. bard.

So...WBL for a 2nd level character is 1000gp, is that what we start with?

Also, a query - what weapons is a sasquatch proficient with? I assume that club and rock are sasquatch proficiencies, but are they the only ones? (not a problem if it is, just good to know)

Humanoids with racial HD are proficient with all simple weapons, but not armor unless they are described as wearing any. Which the sasquatch is not.

Sounds fun! Let me see what I can come up with

Too-wit-Too-woo

Here's my application for an awakened owl witch.

Highfeather is wise and slightly aloof, often talking to himself. He has a kind heart but considers himself above the "lesser", non-awakened animals and still enjoys the thrill of the hunt.

I'm curious High-Feather. How did you get the stats for your Int and Cha.

and here's my Sasquatch.

High-Feather: What did you roll? I can't seem to get the point buy to work out. The closest I can find is 2pts in Con, 7pts in Dex, 10pts in Int which leaves you with 1pt left over.

You can have the 2d8 HD. The maxed out HD will be the d8. Racial HD are added before class HD. That would put your Hp at 29hp.

Don't worry about the high Hp. I'm going to be treating this party as level 4 or 5.

Hrrm: Check out your crunch again. I noticed a lot minor errors in your attacks. Your rock should be 2d4+13, for example.

I honestly can't remember what I rolled, I'll roll again if needs be.
Thanks for the extra hp.

Could you do your rolls on here? Thanks.

What are your thoughts on a kami - a CR2 Shikigami, to be precise?

"Kami come into existence either as a spontaneously manifesting spirit or as the reincarnation of a particularly noble soul. Souls of creatures who died to protect an element of nature are particularly prone to returning to life as a kami. In this latter way, many kami arise from the souls of dedicated rangers or druids who perished while defending their homelands, or monks who spent a lifetime meditating on the serenity of nature. Once reincarnated, however, few kami remember any of their former lives, and their forms never resemble their former bodies. The rare kami who do recall their prior lives are the kami most likely to become more than mere guardians—these kami often take class levels and grow quite powerful."

It's a reincarnated druid - archetype Menhir Savant, at least 2nd level, so could tap into ley-lines, and whose ward is a ley-line marker stone. Will take class levels in this archetype as it remembers former skills. Recently formed - perhaps it was acquainted with Dion before.

intelligence: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 5) = 12
charisma: 1d3 ⇒ 1

What about a Grig Rogue?
I haven't buy equipment, but the stats are there.
I guess I would like her to gain a level of bard somewhere down the road.
---
Caireann is very young... only 2 seasons ago she came out of her egg, but in that short time she has proven herself an exceptional creature.
She has embraced the most positive aspects of the green faith, and has chosen to dedicate her life protecting nature and their creatures.
As she is tiny and weak, the infiltration and surprise aspect of combat has been her choices. Turn her weaknesses into advantages, surprise and secrecy her tools.
She has come to love Dion, the Satyr, as a mentor and father, trying to learn all she is able from the old satyr.
---
Any observations?

I updated my stat block to match my new rolls.

High-Feather: You look set. Just make sure BAB and everything is good from your extra HD.

Chief Cook: A Shikigami is a strange choice, but it could work with a good backstory.

Caireann: Looks good.

I too would be interested, Goldmyr, if you are still looking for players. Are you doing PbP or real time?

Hrrm: Check out your crunch again. I noticed a lot minor errors in your attacks. Your rock should be 2d4+13, for example.

Doh!, for some reason I thought it was STR, not 1.5xSTR and adjusted it. I'll check it out.

OK, I think I got it. I have adjusted AB and Damage for Power Attack.

Hrrm: Still doesn"t look like you fixed the rock. You still have it listed as 1d4.

Damage from a thrown rock is generally twice your base slam damage plus 1-1/2 your Strength bonus.

Stormcrow: I've only got three finished submissions, so still looking for more people. This will be a play by post.

Haha everyone's choosing tiny races except for Hrrm. Size bonuses to stealth to out the wazoo haha

Sykk the pseudodragon
----------
Sykk has lived in the forest his whole life, about 14 years. He lived day to day in the forest exploring and helping Dion with whatever was needed. One day a caravan of traders passed close by the forest, and Sykk could not help but watch the curious creatures in their wheeled boxes. He noticed once they had passed that a book had been left behind accidentally.
He investigated the book, and discovered it had strange runes and glyphs inside, and over several years managed to decipher some of it and begin his study as a wizard. Also inside the spellbook was an old ring, which Sykk now wears on one of his horns.
Sykk now spends most of his days poring over the spellbook, trying to learn more of its mysteries. As the book is nearly as large as himself, Sykk carries it around as a sort of backpack with several other supplies for his studies, and is intensely protective of it.
----------

Mechanically: Illusion favored school wizard 1, opposed evocation and necromancy. Arcane bond with a ring.
If added to the campaign, I'd probably end up investing in some item creation feats so that our odd little group can have the magical items they will most definitely not find pre-made for them.

Well the first two ideas I had are either too disgusting for most people to deal with or have too many insano spell like/psionic abilities for my tastes (giant hissing cockroach and psionic al'mi'raj (the unicorn rabbit)). This https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/bestiary/monster-listings/anima ls/dog/corgi-dire illustration here http://butterfrog.deviantart.com/art/Corgi-dire-149262275 Aka a dire corgi cavalier with a halfling as his mount. No not a halfling cavalier with a dire corgi mount, the other way around. Probably awakened, or I do have this set of third party rules that is designed for talking animals. http://paizo.com/products/btpy8d08?The-Noble-Wild-An-Animal-Player-s-Handbo ok-for-Fantasy-RolePlaying-Games I can make it available if needed.

dotting, looks nifty. I am thinking about a bloodrager... race undecided.

considering- Awakened pony. (O lawd save us all :P )
Awakened racoon. ( If you don't know why, I am disappoint.)
or some other thing, like a normal race. This is so far off for me I am having trouble deciding on things O.o

I find this to be amusing. A little dragon pouring over books while a cauldron of potion boils beside him. I know he would most likely be working on other things, but still.

Stormcrow: Do you know what book the Dire Corbi is from? Also, Cavaliers need to start with a horse or camel if they are medium sized.

I am intrigued.

I have two concepts
an awakened kangaroo monk, or a leprechaun.

can you clarify the way ability scores work? as I understand it right now I can have one ability score above 16 before racial bonuses but after those bonuses I can't have anything higher than an 18 or lower than a 6.

You can have one ability over 16 before racials. That ability cannot exceed 18 before the monster's bonuses are factored in. You cannot have any score less than 6 before racials.

After racial bonuses are factored in, stats can get pretty high.

It's a web based suggestion for halflings. I figured playing the reverse with a halfing as the animal companion would be an interesting idea. I would call them Left for the awakened dire corgi cavalier and Right for the halfling animal companion. I can always swap the halfing for a human or a medium sized rider.

Nope scratch all of that.

I dub thee Stormbringer!

Haunted (takes damage from positive energy as undead and detects as undead), Conductive +50% more damage from electricty), Metal (hardness goes to 10, natural armor increases by 2), additional movement fly 20 feet, Animated Intelligent +1 Bastard Sword, using the rules for intelligent items, the variant awakened object spell from 3.5's Urban Druid/Spell Compendium or the 1st level black blade magus archetype as a start. It will take levels in magus as the black blade archetype, and I'll forgo the additional points that the blade gets in favor of the magus's pool once we get to 3rd level. I'll get the stats down in a second.

Story: Stormbringer is a weapon that has graced the pages of countless stories. It is that most perfect of ironies a malevolent being of Chaos bound in a metal straighjacket of Law, forged by servants of the Cosmic Balance. Like all blades, it cuts both left and right, forward and back, between Chaos and Law. Good and evil are relative to the side that is winning, but Chaos and Law determine how lives are led. The blade appears when one side is out of balance, usually at the hand of a Champion of the Balance who is dedicated to bring balance back to chaotic pulses of churning creation or overzealous law-abiding planes of nothing to judge. The grand irony of existence is that without Law to channel and/or challenge Chaos, Law has nothing to judge and Chaos has nothing to create. Deep in the halls of the lowest hells or on a high shelf in the greatest of the heavenly libraries, the Chronicle of the Black Blade waits for the daring, the desperate, or the depraved to be inspired or horrified by Stormbringer's many deeds.

The blade manifested in Pan's Wood, searching for a champion. Of course, irony being the call of the day in any fey wood, the blade instead found itself amongst a protected sylvan grove. Lacking any guidance, it offered itself to Dion as a protector, in return for the satyr's aid in giving it purpose. After all, what is a sword with no one to wield it, and no cause to champion? As sure as chaos is the nature of fey, some supernatural threat from Law or Chaos would appear to attack these woods, and when it came, Stormbringer would be there to forge a new legend.

OR, if that doesn't work, then I am the cast off intelligent spell book that Sykk picked up. I used to be an item familiar of a long-dead wizard, who created an intelligent spell book named Libram to keep and protect all of his greatest creations. However, Libram was stolen by wandering gypsies that plied the wizard with drugged ale, and taken off to be sold to disreputable foes that would pass the spells within as their own, thus increasing their status amongst the world's wizards. However, fate and the will of the book to be wielded by a worthy user being what they are, the book unlocked the chest it was in with a knock spell, create an unseen servant to pick it up and throw it out of the wagon, where it lay until a curious looking pseudodragon picked it up.

Animated awakened object, tiny, additional movement fly. It will take 2levels in either wizard or sorcerer, probably fire elemental school. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-schools/paizo--- arcane-schools/elemental-arcane-schools/fire

I think the blade would work better. You could also check out the lifespark construct template on d20pfsrd.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/lifespark-const ruct-template

Both of those are really cool ideas stormcrow, and if we were both in the game I'd be so up for the second one. It could be like Libram used up its power to create and maintain Stormbringer as a protector for itself, and as Sykk unlocks more of the mysteries of the spellbook (leveling up) it is able to commit more power to Stormbringer (leveling up also).
If Stormbringer is ever destroyed, we can essentially say that Sykk or someone else does the magical research needed to reconstruct it (pay the same amount of gold it would cost a normal character to be resurrected)

Lol can i play a Flame-Spawned Stormwarden Warder?

Chief Cook: A Shikigami is a strange choice, but it could work with a good backstory.

I've thought some more, and concluded that a kami's probably too tied to their ward. It would have to be carried around by someone, which is kind of cheating the idea, and it's a major vulnerability. I have a few other ideas. I'll see what I can come up with.

So how would you feel about a Sprite Druid? I've always wanted to play a little fey creature, buzzing around being all magical. She'd fill a support role early on but would eventually be able to hold her own quite nicely. I imagine her personality being a bit brash and overconfident, similar to a teenager. Currently I'm trying to find a way to make her build be centered around inflicting the nausea condition...

Sounds like fun!

How about an undead cleric of Desna. That's right skeley cleric of a god deity. An awakened undead that has no memory of his past life but he does remember what it is like to be alive: to eat, to sleep, to feel. He wants to resurrect himself. So he will need a lot of luck and to go on quite the journey to do it. Luck and Travel domains. That or separatist and trade one out for madness. Visions of madness is one of the best debuffs ever. He will of course be neutral and channel negative so watch out.

Or maybe Pharasma. Oh the irony.