The party:
Archmage: Alexander Grayson, Human Wizard
Champion: Amanda Mayweather. Tiefling Bloodrager
Guardian: Sergeant Jackram Hughes, Human Ranger
Hierophant: Kyra Altreas, Aasimar Oracle
Marshal: Asmodea Jegarre, Human Paladin
Trickster: Iolana Torilinni, Human Bard
We'll get gameplay rolling probably tomorrow night, so for now, just check in, and if you have any questions, house rule requests, etc. then now would be the time to ask.
*drags Kyra in*
REPORTING IN!
*salutes*
I am excited to see that four out of six people in this group have rather normal names.
Nice!
I've been trying to get Sarge into a game for a while now. Looking forward to this!
In case anyone's a pterry fan, Sarge is loosely based on Sargeant Jackrum from Monstrous Regiment. Loosely.
New stats will be in the profile shortly.
I just noticed this. I'm silly. :|
Anyway, it's a bit of a background hook, but Kyra is experiencing the downside of being an angel-blooded aasimar, and might be experiencing moments of "Kill her" towards Amanda, what with her having been corrupted by evil and transformed into a tiefling. It's something she actively represses, mind you, and it has no real bearing on redemption and all that. It's just something she doesn't understand.
For the second point, would you like me to make an alias for my spirits so you can see their stats easily? I can also fill out a fillable PDF with their stat blocks if you'd like. The page specifically says an aetherurgist determines the form of their spirits, so I figured the offensive spirits would look like the celestial golden dragon, "Peace Through Vigilance" (one of Iomedae's servants), and the defensive spirits would resemble a warrior/paladin of Iomedae in fullplate with a tower shield. It's awesomely flavorful, and it fits the dreams she's been having.
i just realized that Asmodea, Kyra, and myself are also in the Grimm Tales campaign together.
Huh.
Random observation: I feel like I would be a Cleric of Iomedae or a follower of Desna if I lived on Golarion. If I lived in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, I would mos certainly follow Lathander, benevolent god of the Sun.
Yeah, generally having everything on the alias is greatly preferred. My computer doesn't always get along with Acrobat well when I have too many open, and between these two and Way of the Wicked I've already got my fill on .pdf files to switch between constantly. Having all the information rolled up, as organized as you feel like making it, is greatly appreciated.
Right right, I'll make a seperate section at the bottom of Kyra's profile for the spirits.
Oh boy I am looking forward to this!
*I do a few twirly dance steps of joy*
Other than the Alias I created for this one, (which has the stat block in it) is there anything particular I need to do for this?
I see the mention of a fill-able character sheet, is that something I should do and if so, any suggestions on where to get one? I do not have a regular pdf editor that I can use if that makes any difference.
If you need a fillable sheet, I can upload a blank one for you, Iolana. It auto-calculates weight and all that, which is useful for me since I hate filling in my alias without the typed-out numbers.
I would appreciate it Kyra, it would be a big help. Don't know if I will be able to get it finished until late tomorrow, got a long day from work. Hate when the spring last minute mandatory morning meetings on the one day I work second shift.
No, no need for a fillable sheet. The stat block and backstory on the alias is all I need. Finding an avatar is generally appreciated, and formatting your Race field to read like Kyra or Jackram's is also very helpful to me.
There you go, the deluxe version. =P
But yeah, what Spooky said. I just use the PDF for my own benefit, since it's easier for me to just copy it off my sheet than do the math in my head.
Hee, remember when this character was an evil Warlock, Spooky? for your other campaign?
Good times.
Well, it lasted about a day, but yes, I do.
EDIT: Also, just a reminder as you go into finalizing things and looking into equipment, but I don't track encumbrance by the pound. Equip yourselves with what you have as you wish, and it's not a problem. I won't make you have to pump points into Strength just because you want to be prepared for a lot of things. Armor penalties are the bigger issue, and we'll only be looking carrying capacity when you actually need to carry something. I will, however, be a pain in the ass about having containers to put things in should you find something that needs bagging/bottling.
*Gasp!* I might get some rope, if that's the case. I've learned to NEVER go anywhere without at least 50 feet of rope. After all, it's useful for traveling AND interrogating!
Yeah, that's the idea. I'd rather people get things they'd think are useful and be prepared than carry only the bare minimum because they don't want to squander enough point buy to get 14 Strength and be able to carry everything without worrying about penalties for a medium load. Especially in low levels where things like alchemical items shine.
Also congratulations Iolana on getting the "we don't have anyone who can pick locks" house rule of gaining Disable Device as a class skill. I suggest you keep it high regularly.
And I can actually feel useful by healing during combat! This makes Energy Body much more useful, not to mention just looking awesome.
Sarge has rope. He makes sure to take care of his little lads and lassies.
Gameplay thread is now live, for you to dot in or whatever. You have until your first die roll to finalize your characters.
I will make an alias for Asmodea tomorrow, it is too late now. I hadn't realized I'd posted her twice. I've got my State Medical Boards to take Thursday and so am very scatter-brained.
Asmodea is a very common name in cheliax, the Inner Sea World Guide even says so. So is Jaegarre. 8)
Asmodea is not someone you would really submit to for redemption unless you really had no choice. She will dutifully collect those who wish to repent and deliver them to someone interested in working with them. If someone is being particularly difficult, Asmodea would step in as the hard core drill type who will make you or break you.
Asmodea is kind of hard to describe - It's not that she Evil, which is most certainly is not. It's also not that she's mean, because she's not really personal enough to be mean. Asmodea cares about people, but not really in the personal sense - she cares about society and how people work together for the betterment of all.
In the end, very little is personal with Asmodea. She is hard because that is what is required. Look around you, demons infest the material world, brought here at the whim of humans who sold their souls for power. Resistance to these beings is crippled because of fractured resources, resolve and leadership. This is what happens when people have "freedom" and are allowed to do what they like. Slavery is evil as one man should not own another. Rather, the state should own everyone, under the guidance of the courts and the Law. This will lead to the best living conditions for the maximum number of people.
The Order of the God Claw teaches all that anyone really needs to understand - "Righteousness is found through Obedience."
Asmodea doesn't hate anyone but the demons, not even their minions. Neither is she tolerant however, you simply must toe the line. As the waves of chaos and individuality come flooding out of the abyss, Asmodea will stand athwart these battlements with sword in hand, shouting the Law at the top of her voice. Those who work for a better society will be up there beside her, their weapons ready, their backgrounds forgotten.
Is that what you were hoping for vis a vis accepting redemption?
PS: Levels in Paladin and levels in Hellknight don't really mix. I was hoping to take ranks as a hellknight in-game rather than as a class. This way she could be promoted and though she were joining a social faction. Pathfinder has rules for that somewhere, I'm sure I could dig them out.
I've strongly considered taking levels in Holy Liberator solely because the sight of a giant sword carrying armored nun slinging blood from open stigmata and melting demons seems so cool. 8)
Yeah, it is, thanks. I just didn't know if she was going to object to CE beings wanting to commit to CG rather than LE on principle. And don't worry about being scatterbrained; I kept flubbing the recruitment thread here and there.
um, well... Asmodea is quite the character, huh?
*starts holding Kyra like a stuffed animal for protection*
E...eh?! Why are you holding me?! ;~;
Ok, got the pdf file, thanks Kyra, and have tweaked the build slightly, mostly gear, though I did drop UMD for Disable Device for now, and swapped out feather step for saving finale. Also took the Focused Study racial trait, figured I am burning a feat for skill focus anyway, might as well drop the bonus feat for three skill focuses as I level.
Baring any issues that are spotted I think I am ready to go now!
*Looking at the tiefling and aasimar*
Aw, how cute, the tiefling is already trying to redeem herself. You are doing good work lady aasimar, very good work, you already converted someone.
Noted, Iolana. Might want to consider slipping your Skill Focus over to a Performance though; once you hit second level Versatile Performance is going to give you so much more mileage out of it.
Yeah, just got to looking at the different versatile performances, and I think I will, I see one I can use that fits the concept and will get the intimidate bonus I need for what I am building to do. Wasn't wanting to take comedy for the intimidate, but I spotted percussion works, which she will be wearing bells quite a bit anyway, and barring that, you can play percussion on anything, including yourself or the ground.
General build advice would be to take one Performance you actually use, and then have redundant ones you use solely for Versatile Performance. You could switch Sing for Percussion/Comedy/Keyboard and still only ever use Dance for your actual performances.
Ack! I know how I should do this for build reasons but it grates on my story reasons for things soooo badly. Driving me nuts. From how powerful some of what we will run into eventually is I guess I should go for mechanics efficiency in this case.
K, There, I think I got the first two versatile performances figured out and I can worry about the rest later, keyboard first and then sing to have most of my skills covered.
Just something I found out by reading the boards: Paladin says if you ever commit an evil act or violate the code you fall. Hellknight says that if you ever commit a chaotic act or violate their code, you have to perform a penance. So, as long as you err on the side of good, and perform appropriate penances, you can get by with having levels in both.
*Looking at the tiefling and aasimar*
Aw, how cute, the tiefling is already trying to redeem herself. You are doing good work lady aasimar, very good work, you already converted someone.
I just kind of...got there, and everything was dead already...And my dearest friend had been transformed into what she is now.
Ah, there we go, alias set now. Was trying to set it in the wrong place.
Aaaaand my alias is now fully updated, including new gold/silver/inventory, and the offensive & defensive spirit stat blocks/abilities.
Alexander Grayson here. Just need to put up my gear.
So you know, I may be unable to post anything tonight. We have storms coming in that may be severe enough to leave my computer unplugged. I hope this is not the case, but if it is I will hop on as early as possible tomorrow morning to catch up.
*Does a no severe storm dance and then ducks into shelter any way...just in case*
I really want to take levels in the Exalted prestige class since it'd work perfectly in terms of her backstory, but I'd have to give up so much...I mean, I'd still get spells, but I'd miss out on improving my Tongues curse (for the last improvement on it, anyway), I'd miss out on bonus spells for the Life mystery (I think?), and I'm not sure, but I don't think my spirits would progress, either? Not sure. Spooky, I'd love it if you could enlighten me with how Oracle/Aetherurgist would work with a prestige class, what'd I lose, and all that. I've never prestiged before, but...Exalted.... ;~; Well that, and I'd have to change her alignment to Lawful Good to match Iomedae, but that doesn't bother me too much.
The prestige class in question: Exalted
You pretty much nailed it. You'd continue to advance your spellcasting, but everything else stops.
Your curse progresses at every other hit die still too. Love a cell phone with internet.
"An oracle’s curse is based on her oracle level plus one for every two levels or Hit Dice other than oracle. Each oracle must choose one of the following curses." Hm, didn't know that. So, if you took Oracle 10/Exalted 10, you would finish your curse at level 20.
Only found that out within the last week myself. Very good to know too.
This is Asmodea. I suspect that her AC is incorrect and will research it when I have time, probably tomorrow. I have not bought her gear as I usually save that for last.
I also noted that you've got me down for Marshall although I'd been hoping for Champion. I'm okay with that and will work with that plan in mind.
On the other hand, evangelist would advance all your oracle class features, losing only one level.
Looks like my dance worked, no severe storms thus far.
Oh god, Asmodea, sorry about that. I have no idea how that happened, but you seem to not mind too much so hey, at least it got you in? I'm the frigging omnishambles.
Anyway, waiting on everyone to make their introduction before we move forward.
I really want to do Exalted, is the sad thing. Like, for flavor, it's amazing. Though I wonder if my spirits would advance. From the way it's worded, it would, since it's only based on your oracle levels, but...I dunno. I want to do it for the flavor, and I'd still be able to do support since I can take feats for Extra Revelations, but I don't want to screw over the party by being weaker...Opinions? :/
Also, if I took Evangelist, would my Aetherurgist stuff continue, since it replaces some of the Oracle stuff, and Evangelist keeps the Oracle stuff past level 1? :| I wanna know before I roll. ^^;
Not honestly sure where Aethururgist even comes from, did not see it as an archetype on srd site, so I can not compare them really. Having said that, the exalted prc looks like it does some very interesting things, and I agree that it would make a lot of sense from the fluff, or as much as I understand of it.
The real question is how much of your effectiveness is coming from the spirits you summon, and I assume they progress as you gain oracle levels?
The spirits are namely for tower defense. The offensive ones are the damage, and they're useful since they do force damage and get stronger as my Cha goes up. The defensive ones give deflection bonuses to AC and that gets stronger as my levels go up. The revelations can also modify them, like making the offensive ones Arcanavores, which can cast Dispel Magic. It's neat, but yeah, Prestige confuses me, and I'd be ever so grateful if someone can help me with figuring this out. I'm working on my introduction post now, though. I was at work until about half an hour ago.
I think taking the Exalted prc might be worthwhile, though I would likely not take the whole thing with your Archetype. If it were me, I would probably try to get you Aethururgist level to 11 before branching out, being able to summon the spirits as a move action is very nice and it makes all but one of the revelations available to you.
This would prevent you from gaining the Miracle ability of the Exalted class, and depending on the third boon you may or may not want to take 9 levels of exalted. Without the right book to look up those boons I am not sure whether it would be worth it or not.
I do not think I would use the evangilist one, the last ability of it is very good and maybe worth skipping out on summoning the spirits as a move action, they would both be pretty good and a toss up to me.
I'm looking at the Evangelist stuff for Iomedae now. (They're kind of bad.)
Actually, I can see most of the Exalted boons now, as well...
The Exalted boons for Iomedae are as follows:
1: Glorious Servant (Sp): Shield of Faith 3/day, Enthrall 2/day, (Can't make out the 1/day boon)
2: Righteous Strike(Sp): Once per day, you can channel the effects of holy smite through your weapon. You must declare your use of this ability before you roll your attack. On a hit, the target is affected as if targeted with holy smite.
3: Just Ally (Sp): Once per day as a standard action, you can summon a shield archon. The shield archon follows your commands perfectly for 1 minute for every Hit Die you possess before vanishing back to its home in Heaven. The shield archon doesn't follow commands that would violate its alignment, however, and particularly egregious commands could cause it to attack you.
The Evangelist boons are as follows:
Courageous(Sp): Remove Fear 3/Day, Blessing of Courage and Life 2/Day, or Heroism 1/Day
Demon-Feared Caster (Ex): You are used to fighting the forces of evil. You gain a sacred bonus equal to 1 + 1 for every 4 Hit Dice you possess (maximum +6) on caster level checks to overcome the spell resistance of outsiders with the chaotic or evil subtypes. These bonuses stack against outsiders who are both chaotic and evil (maximum +12). If you don't have the ability to cast spells, you instead gain the ability to use Protection From Chaos/Evil as a spell-like ability three times per day.
Wrath of the Inheritor(Su): Three times per day, you can call upon Iomedae during the casting of a spell to increase its potency. When you use this ability, you can cast any spell that deals hit point damage and has a casting time of 1 standard action as a full-round action instead. Doing so changes half the damage dealt to divine power, similiar to a flame strike spell. For example, a wizard 5/ evangelist 9 casts a lightning bolt as a full-round action. The spell deals 10d6 points of damage, half of which is electricity damage and the other half of which is divine energy and not subject to electricity resistance. If you can't cast spells that deal hit point damage, you instead gain the ability to imbue your weapon with holy power. Three times per day as a free action, you can grant your weapon the holy weapon special ability for 1 minute.
The obedience is as follows:
Obedience: Hold your primary weapon in front of you and hang a holy symbol of Iomedae from it. Kneel while focusing on the holy symbol, pray for guidance and protection from the Inheritor, and swear to follow her teachings. Gain a +4 sacred bonus on Diplomacy and Knowledge (Nobility) checks.