Shadows of the Sand (Inactive)

Game Master caster4life

that said, @GM, combat Expertise is gone as a feat, so do I just get a bonus feat instead of combat expertise from lore warden? Or do I just lose out?

I've slightly changed my thoughts for team Planetouched but am still keen to play, will work on a Peri-Blooded Aasimar Occultist if that works for people?

@Hustonj: Not sure I understand your point. The unchained rogue example in the feat taxes rule gives deft maneuvers since weapon finesse is no longer a feat. Did you want a choice of feat instead? I think I'll stick with the system's example.

@rorek55: Since you already have combat expertise, you would get a bonus feat at level 6.

All: Interesting to see the tides of ideas flow. First planetouched was most of the conversation. Now it's DM. What next? Curious.

Also GM, I thought this was the lore-warden we are suppose to use.

I've slightly changed my thoughts for team Planetouched but am still keen to play, will work on a Peri-Blooded Aasimar Occultist if that works for people?

That works great! Would love to have you put that together.

*Edit* - to echo rorek, still looking for some water to round out the elements!

Nah, nothing so melodramatic, GM. I was verifying the intent was to apply that "rule" versus none.

I spent 30 years as a computer programmer. My father made a living as a computer scientist. My mother filled her time as an English teacher. Sometimes I look for more explicit statements of intent, especially when I am trying to comply with implied intent.

Huh, a campaign using the feat tax ruling I want to try out since finding it. Count me interested.
How long will this recruitment remain open? It is quite difficult to shift through all of this and get into it, since we're building teams - which is quite hard for a latecomer ;-)

I usually play martial or 3/4 martial-oriented casters (like Hunter or Inquisitor). I am really fond of Teamwork feats and have a very nice Hunter/UC Rogue going in a 0.5 Gestalt game. So I guess, I will look into team Deft at first. If there's time left anyway ^^
Or ... a Summoner. I really like the flexibility and freedom-of-description this class allows. Maybe a Synthesist to make good use of the removed feat taxes - providing hard hitting-reach, good defense and buffs.

@rorek55: My understanding from this PFS blog is that we should be using the Adventurer's guide Lore Warden. Did you want to play the old version? I can look into allowing that if that's the case.

@hustonj: With you there. I'm a huge fan of excessively clear communication, even if it means I have to ask multiple questions or be asked multiple questions before things are clear. So to be clear, I answered your query? XD

@Swordwhale: There's plenty of time. I don't have a hard submission deadline. After a couple more weeks, there will probably be much less activity as teams come together and waiting longer won't add much in terms of total quality of submissions. Then I'll let people know I'm closing recruitment in a few days. In terms of sorting through information, I've tried to make sure all information relevant to everyone is in the campaign info so you don't have to search through every clarification posts I've made unless it's something only relevant to your build.

@All: Seems like the three teams (Spirit, Deft, and Planetouched) are coming together nicely. Keep up the good work. Remember to prepare for hot, cold, light, dark, illusions, evocations, undead, regenerating enemies, regenerating undead enemeies, fast and silent fights, defensive fights, mysteries, stealth, swarms, persuasion, traps, foraging, etc. You will gain great power, should you survive to earn it.

Cool.
I am quite open-minded at the moment...
@Teams: I'll have a look over your composition over the next days, in the meantime: What would you like to have me play if I'd join your team? Not saying I'll do, but maybe it will inspire me for a cool build.
As a kind of general purpose, I'd probably go with a baseline summoner. I like the class for the flavor plus it is really, really versatile with buffs, summons and the Eidolon. With a (big) Cha dependency, he can also second as a face.

@SnS GM, I'd prefer that lore-warden if possible, as that is the one I've always used.

Yes you can use the old lore-warden if you wish. What's a feat you'd like to use to replace combat maneuvers? I'd rather not allow any powerful, flexible feat that anybody would want (like toughness) but I would allow something more specific that fits the lore warden. Perhaps dodge or skill focus (knowledge something)?

Dodge would be fine, although another option I'd not mind is the TWF feat or weapon focus (flails).

I would likely take all of these eventually, but if I could choose any of these to replace combat expertise, I'd probably just grab up weapon focus.

Dodge seems most in line with LW and is AC oriented, like Com Exp, so you can have dodge for free.

Thats fine, another Idea I had over lunch was make it the deft/powerful maneuvers feat instead.

Cool.

I am quite open-minded at the moment...
@Teams: I'll have a look over your composition over the next days, in the meantime: What would you like to have me play if I'd join your team? Not saying I'll do, but maybe it will inspire me for a cool build.
As a kind of general purpose, I'd probably go with a baseline summoner. I like the class for the flavor plus it is really, really versatile with buffs, summons and the Eidolon. With a (big) Cha dependency, he can also second as a face.

I know we’ve got a Sylph, an Oread, and an Ifrit for the Planetouched team (also an Aasimar). To complete the classical elements, we could use an Undine. Also, we’re distinctly lacking in Divine casting/healing, since the classes right now are Swashbuckler, Fighter, Sorcerer (and Occultist). So something like an Inquisitor, Hunter, Warpriest, or just plain old Cleric would be helpful (and those all synergize pretty well with the Undine’s wisdom bonus).

Mhh, will look into undine ... Probably hunter or Inquisitor then.
I am not much into full casters (other than summoner).
Maybe I'll take a look at an kineticist as well. I think they had some way of healing, mhhh.
@GM: In case of hunter (or AC in general)... Would you be cool with Dinosaurs...? I really am a fan of the Ancylosaurus. That stun effect once he is grown-up is very neat.

I'm still interested in joining the planetouched team together with my genie-touched horse, or equine undine.

I've simply been rather preoccupied the last few days.

@Swordwhale: No problem with dinos.

@Cuan: Sounds cool. You've got time to get the build together.

My bad, thought you’d dropped out.

In that case, Swordwhale, the four main elements are all covered (though I don’t think we’d mind if you doubled up), but you could maybe do something a bit more esoteric like a Fetchling or Suli if you want. Cuan was, IIRC, going for an Oracle, so divine casting isn’t necessarily a huge need now. Choices are a bit more wide open, the only thing we’re really lacking is a true skillmonkey. I’m filling that with my Swashbuckler right now, but wouldn’t mind someone to take that on as a designated role. In fact, Fetchling Ninja was another build I had considered (that I think would be really fun for this game), but I really wanted to play a Swashbuckler. As far as animal companions goes, I’d defer to the GM as to what is and isn’t native to Qadira, but I’ve got no issue with an ankylosaur. One of my favorite dinos, as it happens.

Re dinos: Whatever you choose, make sure it can handle a flexibility of missions. An ankylosaurus would be awesome for a face to face, drawn-out melee battle. Not so great if you need stealth, mobility, flight, etc. I'm interested to see what you do with the animal companion. Always an awesome and flexible class feature.

@hustonj: With you there. I'm a huge fan of excessively clear communication, even if it means I have to ask multiple questions or be asked multiple questions before things are clear. So to be clear, I answered your query? XD

:facepalm:

I should say no at this point, right?

Shadows of Sand GM wrote:

@hustonj: With you there. I'm a huge fan of excessively clear communication, even if it means I have to ask multiple questions or be asked multiple questions before things are clear. So to be clear, I answered your query? XD

:facepalm:

I should say no at this point, right?

Haha. Ok so what else should we clarify?

Bzl109 Here is my suli bloodrager though still have some work to do but mainly just crunch work along with naming and deity. Can change out some of the traits but figured needed the stealth and diplomacy.

Been slower since I have been doing this by hand and let me know if there is anything I missed.

Background I think is going to be a case of born into barbarian clan in the neighboring highlands, but when his racial powers manifested he was kicked out. During his search for more information into his heritage he ended up Crap cant remember the city name lol

Umm how does the shadows recruit exactly cause that would be part of the story from there. Also, let me know if there is more information needed...haven't really done a true backstory for any of my characters other than a very very brief element.

Since this is important info for everyone, I'll add it to the campaign info too.

The Shadows typically recruit promising prospects from the ranks of the military. Two years of military service are required of all citizens of Qadira. It typically takes at least a year for a green soldier to distinguish themselves and prove worthy of the Shadows' interest. Things may be more complicated for those who are sub-citizens or under the radar but the Shadows would recruit anyone who could prove useful and be trusted. For example, they would recruit a skilled and dangerous criminal out of jail if they had sufficient leverage to ensure the prisoner's loyalty.

New recruits are blindfolded and taken to secret hideouts for training. Few know where they are. You may have been trained in a cave, under a city, or in a forsaken desert outpost.

While I'm still working on the crunch, my basic idea is to have my character come from one of the Al-Zabriti clans. It would make a natural fit for the Shadows as those clans share a lot of the same goals, it's just the methods that are different.

@GM: Am I right that a paladin will not work in this setting?

@Swordwhale: There can be paladin's in Qadira but I don't think a paladin would do well with the amount of dirty work required. Antipaladin would also be tough to pull off as they seem like they would have a lot of trouble following orders.

There is the gey paladin archetype.

They are LN, so they may well be more of 'keepers of the justice/peace', doing what must be done for the greater good, with less the moral dilemmas the normal LG may have.

There is the gey paladin archetype.

We all do know that many paladins out there are gay, don't we? ;-)

On an unrelated note:
We use Feat Tax removal AND Combat Stamina ... which produces the question how the merged Feats from Tax Removal works in concert with the Combat Tricks from Combat Stamina. Do they simply have all tricks of the merged feats available?

@Alma: Grey paladin would be better. Might still have difficulty but could be workable.

@Swordwhale: Good question. Everyone counts as having the removed feats and only those with the new, merged feats count as having feats that have been merged under a new heading.

Example 1: Anyone may attempt the power attack combat trick because everyone has power attack for free.

Example 2: Only those with the new dodge feat (which now contains old dodge and mobility) can use the mobility combat trick.

Philosophically, I think this gives cool flexibility and abilities to martials. That said, casters are still vital for parties to be able to handle the variety of situations they'll face. And it's not like the martial buff really nerfs casters. Hasting your souped-up fighter buddies is even better than hasting normal fighter buddies.