TWO's Mythic Kingmaker: Fey Winds Blowing (Inactive)

Game Master The Wyrm Ouroboros

That is a lot! I am most assuredly interested. It does not matter that I am in a Kingmaker game due to the changes you are making? Assuming so I have a few ideas for my characters. To avoid the text wall I have them in spoilers. Whichever one you think you might have the most fun with I can start to build since I could have a blast playing all three options.

Wow, you people.

;)

If you have a question you've yet to ask, it might be answered here, so even if you didn't ask the Q, you might consider reading anyhow.

Ok, I'll be breaking this in a couple spoilers...

I know all the RP / thematic stuff about how an assassin can be non-evil, even good; I'm not concerned (or at least not entirely concerned) with handling that. You in particular already know how a) familiar and b) flexible I am with theme. What I want is crunch information. How do intend to build your squire / vigilante / assassin / spy? I ask this in part because I recognize that 'assassin' can be used as both a job description (a guy who goes out and kills other people in cold blood) and as a class statement (Assassin PrC, one of the prerequisites of which is 'Any Evil alignment'.)

So my advice at this point is to build and post the pair, show me what you mean to do, and tell me (in general terms) what your plan is for future development.

A quick question on presentation:

I tend to use the Paizo official stat block ...

That's fine. As long as I can look at it and build your character in Hero Lab - which I should be able to with that stat block - I foresee no problems.

Are you OK with us swapping standard racial traits for ones from ARG, Inner Sea Races, etc?

Generally, yes. If it costs additional RP (such as adsapiens put onto Timm Tones, e.g. darkvision and suchlike), it's not allowed, as this is functionally a special race request.

Also, out of sheer curiosity, why no witches? I don't plan on using that class, but it just seems odd to not allow that, vs say Gunslinger, Samurai or Ninja.

Ginganinja is correct that it's a holdover, though the original restricted Gunslinger, Samurai and Ninja. I have played around with the latter three, however, and have a decent grasp on their systems (this goes for the Oracle as well); I have yet to do anything with the Witch, and so I want to keep away from having to trip over myself.

Leadership Feat wrote:

Cohort;

Feats: As PC, including bonus story feat. Will gain 'nesting' Leadership-style feat at 7th level (may select Cohorts now, if desired, and gain a free feat at 7th).

Could you please explain this a bit more? Does this mean my Lvl 7 PC gets a Cohort and 10 followers, and my Cohort gets an additional 7 followers? And therefore my PC has effectively 17 total?

Incorrect.

Right now, you have Leader and Cohort. Leader starts at 7th level, and since he finally qualifies for it*, receives the Leadership feat for free. With a CHA of 12, Cohort will most likely be the 5th level maximum (Leader Level - 2). Since a 5th level character cannot have Leadership, Cohort will not gain it until they themselves reach 7th level.

If, however, Cohort desires to take Recruits instead (gaining him two 1st-level cohorts at this point), that's fine.*

* - "Can I have Recruits instead of Leadership?" No, for the simple fact that your recruits would be 3rd level, and would not be able to stand and face the level of danger the other Cohorts can - in part because I wouldn't allow multiple Recruits to be 'working' in the same group. One of the NPCs will probably have the Recruits feat; you will be able to discover in game-play why I don't want the players to have hamstrung themselves in that way.

To relieve any of you wishing otherwise, however, you may review, comment upon, and help me refine the Mythic Level Leadership-style Feats and Path Abilities I'll be allowing.

Also, I think I will create a Monk for this, very fast, wind stance, panther style, high charisma. His cohort will also be a monk, but with a focus on dragon style, strong and brash.

The followers are the reminants of a Clan of Ki Artists who are still loyal to the PC, and so they are all low level Monks as well (or warriors if they cant all be monks) and so he tries to lead the clan as best he can while still training them.

So a clan of Martial Artist monks :)

I will be bringing in the clan of monks (non-combat, job-description monks) used in the original campaign; if you are interested, you might form a school inside them. You might thus be one of the master's council ...

1. For your own writing / personal preference, how where do you fall on the Machiavelli vs. Howard Dean scale in terms of volatility with intrigue?

While I understand Machiavelli, and have looked up who Howard Dean is, I'm still not certain exactly what you mean by this question. If it's a question about 'how intricately political can I get', the answer will be 'very, as long as you're not screwing over your group or king', albeit with certain ... issues in the long-term. If you're wondering about methodology, I think you may have to elaborate on your question..

2. Are there any topics or tropes which particularly bother you in character creation / in-game discussion we should be aware of? For example, does tough-guy-with-a-soft-heart feel too cliche? Does detailed description of torture bother you?

In general, I have no opinions one way or another about tropes being used; we are telling a story (many stories, in fact), so many, many elements of storytelling (i.e. 'tropes') will exist within them. If you create your character as basically nothing but a living, walking list of tropes, however, you can expect to be round-filed.

If you feel that lingering, detailed description of the more vile side of the human experience - torture, murder, and rape being the three most vile things one sophont can do to another - is acceptable, necessary, or even critical to your character's creation or concept, then this campaign is not for you, nor do I want you in it. Such acts, if/when they enter into the campaign, will be off-screen via whatever method is most appropriate / available.

3. You've stated you're ill-inclined towards non-core races for this campaign, and I understand the reasoning behind that. Would you consider permitting the watersinger archetype for Bard to be used by a core race instead of an Undine?

I have yet to gain an application from a non-core race. However, I thought I gave a pretty solid showing of the fact that I am not allowing out-of-PF variations except as previously stated - the one being 3PP revisions on archetypes for Unchained classes, the other being a consideration of Spheres of Power as requested by a legacy player. If you want watersinger that badly, I suggest you use thunderbeard's recommendation.

4. What are your feelings about platypodes?

Platypodes are subject to bad luck, and the higher level they are, the more that bad luck affects them. This is balanced out by their possession of a powerful inherent defensive measure. Due to this combination of factors, I will not be permitting platypodes in this game.

5. Would you consider a follower of Hanspur to be too unwieldy for the aristocrats of the River Kingdoms to entrust on such endeavors as would be embarked upon in this campaign?

Hanspur being CN is slightly tough, but the real kicker is this:

Hanspur is considered to be a forbidden God and his worshipped is banned in many nations because of one of his faiths rituals. His worshippers travel with a lone companion and then one night drown them in the Sellen river, their gods domain. The legends of Hanspur's beginning may explain why Hanspur demands observance of this morbid ritual.

This is straight-up evil. While you can be a TN or CG follower of Hanspur, performing this ritual is absolutely an evil act, and would slide you one step closer to Evil; that makes the ritual basically unacceptable to the campaign. Since the god demands observance of this, any divine caster would by definition be required to perform it, or lose access to spells. Presuming your character a) is not a divine caster of the Water Rat, and b) will never perform the ritual within the scope of this campaign (yes, even during downtimes), following Hanspur is acceptable, if perhaps a bit derided by the nobility if openly done.

6. Though prices for goods have set starting points in the books, would you be open to markets responding to excess supply / shortages in goods to adjust their prices accordingly?

You ... would very much not like that, to be honest. I will do it, however, if you are selected, and can get a 2/3 majority of the players selected to agree with you.

How do you feel about VMC? Did I miss where it was mentioned? Considering going VMC Cavalier (Order of the Star) if I do end up going for the cleric option.

Answered above; TLDR, though, 'no multiclassing variations'. You want another class, take it; no breaks for you.

Will you allow the Master Performer and grandmaster performer feats without the faction requirements? Would the evangelist cleric qualify, or only if I were to go bard? Not sure what these ranks usually mean in terms of levels. If you do require the faction requirement, perhaps I could have my Bard come from Taldor, it's not too far away.

What class I do end up going for my performer probably depends on the answer to the above questions.

As I said above to Harakhty Suntooth, I am not making exceptions for PF stuff except as previously stated. If you want to gain faction-limited abilities, you need to be part of the faction that trains people in that ability.

In function, this is not necessarily too much of a stretch, as you pointed out. In addition, I believe that what Sir Longears is going for might dovetail neatly in with you; I recommend that you get together with him and maybe talk it over.

Do we get skill unlocks for free when we reach 5/10/15 skill-ranks or do we have to pay a feat? It might be fun to spend a feat and a trait to get a bit intimidate on my swashbuckler, but I'm not sure I want to spend two feats and a trait.

The only people who get skill unlocks 'for free' are rogues, because that's part of their shtick. If you want to use a feat for it, that's fine; I may even make available 'Improved Signature Skill', that adds 5 to the skill level of your selected skill, though only for the purposes of activating the skill unlock at that level.

Your restrictions on gear is rather inflexible. For my swashbuckler for example I probably want a blinkback belt (5000 GP), a Headband of Charisma (4000 GP) and a +1 starknife (2330 GP). Any chance you can losen those requirements? What I normally see is a restriction that one item can't be more than half your gold (though 8k certainly works), but that you are free to chose whatever you want for the rest. Alternatively, could you consider raising the threshold to 2,5k for "any magic item", so we can afford +1 weapons?

Yes, the gear restrictions are inflexible. They are a legacy of the original campaign, and yet I'm keeping them because I don't want to force my fellow players to have to go in and redesign their characters, so it stays. This is not the only reason for the restriction; I also want you people to have to sit down and consider the needs of your followers, what you'll be doing in the Stolen Lands and beyond, especially if/when you are away from civilization not just for a few days, but for weeks, even months, on end - when in fact you'll be founding new villages, towns, cities.

I know what you normally see. I know what the '+1 weapons' restriction means. That's what the restrictions are, and those are the choices you'll need to make when you create your character. Which means I want you thinking about more food than just 7 days of iron rations; more transport than a horse; more gear than 23,750 gp of magic items and a handful of mundane things that maybe might make your life a little easier, or simply just not buying much stuff besides armor, weapon, handful of masterwork/crafting items, and go.

Which reminds me about something I wanted to do; see my next post.

Check out the Racial Heritage feat. Humans, Half-Elves, and Half-Orcs can be any racial archetype.

Thank you very much for this advice. :)

I was under the impression that Brevoy and the River Kingdoms were more equivalent to Slavic eastern Europe (i.e. Poland, Kievan Rus, Muscovy) in the early middle ages, a confluence of Iobarian, Ulfen, and Taldor culture (instead of Russian, Norse, and Byzantine Greek) with the additional obvious George R.R. Martin influences. "Russian Westeros," was I believe what James Jacobs called Brevoy.

Let me know if I missed something somewhere (and if the Russian accent I've done for Oleg and Svetlana the times I've ran Stolen Lands was misguided), or if this is just your homebrew version of Golarion.

Golarion names/language don't correlate with historical political structures/cultures. While outfits, names, and language in Brevoy are probably somewhat Slavic (Brevoy is really far north, and it's COLD), their noble houses system of government, general love of dueling, high-mobility court structures, legitimized piracy, and loose coalition of city states centered around prestigious coalitions all mirror Renaissance Italy more strongly than anything else.

Even so. Late Renaissance, 'Three Musketeers' timeline, that sort of thing; the Swordlords of Restov (using agility instead of power) are the prime key to this information. Flavor is, I agree with Pendrak, generally Slavic / Eastern European / Russian, and so Oleg and Svetlana should have good Russian or Romanian accent, with grim humor right along with it because hey, Winter Is Coming. But the intense inter-family and intra-family politics is classic Italian city-state action right there.

I thank you both for your insights and 'from the mouth of the dev' information.

Are we allowed to edit our submissions after submitting them, but before the deadline? Nothing stat-wise, but if we're supposed to try and weave our backstories together somehow....

You can revise and edit and rework your characters right up to the point on the 18th (or 19th) of December when I say 'okay, put your pencils down'. I'll be going by whatever you submitted at that point.

That is a lot! I am most assuredly interested. It does not matter that I am in a Kingmaker game due to the changes you are making? Assuming so I have a few ideas for my characters. To avoid the text wall I have them in spoilers. Whichever one you think you might have the most fun with I can start to build since I could have a blast playing all three options.

For those of you who are currently in or have been in a Kingmaker campaign, understand that all the central events of that campaign will be taking place - and, with two to four times as many characters, probably most of the fringe events too. However, because of meddling, the creation of the Stolen Land kingdom is but one part of a much greater play within the River Kingdoms. Spoiler knowledge will give you an advantage I hope you sha'an't use too often, but in many of the situations it won't be useful at all.

In regards to the three options, I'm not going to pick which one I think you should play. Review the submissions, find a niche, create a niche, back somebody else up, find people to have worked with in the past - whatever, but decide that one for yourself.

Specific answers, however:

• Oracle / Cavalier: This is fine. Even abusively fine - meaning something I would gleefully abuse.
• A pair of siblings from Mivon (Not Minov) would be good. Mivon is indeed home to Aldori swordlords who fled instead of facing the Conqueror's red dragons. I do have a potential use for the pair if you go this way, but if you do, I request that the Leader (main PC) be either a Fighter (Aldori swordlord) and/or have acquired (or will acquire) the Aldori Swordlord PrC.
• The PFS scribes may have problems, in part because at least in my mind, the Society has (or should have) this reputation for being meddlers-in-things-best-left-untouched. Thus, understand that even though this pair might have a hand in the events, and may even become welcome in the River Kingdoms themselves, they may well not be able to make the Society itself welcome. (Also, spending your Prestige Award points may be ... problematical.)

------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------

I will, in the next couple of days, go through and expand the tracking sheet with the information of the legacy players who answered me in the positive. (I'll also be creating the first gameplay thread for those players to entertain themselves in for the next month while we find the balance of the players.) If you're applying, or trying to decide on what to submit, you might check it out. If you DO submit, I'd appreciate you adding your character to the thing as well.

Questions!

I am reminded/inspired by oyzar and a few characters seen in the previous game, and it is this:

Except for money spent, if you don't have a complete character - you haven't taken all your Feats (including the free Story feat), if you haven't decided how many followers you have and what they are / do - then your character isn't done, and isn't ready to be submitted for consideration. If, somehow, you still have it up and posted and whatnot and I actually a) consider it, and b) am so gung-ho about the character I allow it, then you will lose those aspects of your character. You will not be able to decide post-admission what your feat(s) is (are); you will no longer have followers, or even be able to attract them. Does this sound like I'm being an a%#~%$!? Guess what - I am. I also want to look at characters ready for play, not half-baked ludicrosities.

In regards to money spent, you can have up to 250 gp 'left over' without penalty. (You might consider trade goods; if you need some for consideration, I have a list.) If you've left more than that unspent, then you will have either 250 gp, or 1/20th of the amount left unspent, whichever is more.

I do, in fact, expect to see a bunch of characters with a whole pile of magic items and practically nothing else. You will then be camping out in the freezing cold without a tent, hungry after a couple of weeks in the boondocks, and generally being cold, miserable, and catching the flu (unless you're immune to diseases, of course - but still cold and miserable).

Buy big tents. Make sure your cohort has enough gear. Make sure you can CARRY all of it.

I can compleatly seperate the knowledge between games. That is no an issue.

And I though you seems familiar. Hopefully I get to try out the mythic leadership stuff from a players perspective.

When you say gleefully abuse that makes me very interested. Can I ask how you would do so?

And for the siblings I can have one of them go into the Swordlord prestige class. Most likely the rouge but I am not sure just yet. May I ask what the potential use would be for the siblings?

I ask these questions to get a better idea about which one I want to play and how you would be utilizing either pair since I really like both options. Though I could combine them. Taking the Oracle as the sibling to a Swordlord. This would give both options since I like the GM having a use for me and I love it when the GM has some form of ammo on a character. I am weird in that I really love to suffer :D

Can I ask how you would do so?

May I ask what the potential use would be for the siblings?

You can always ask; I can always refuse to answer, which in this case, well - as River Song likes to say, "Spoilers ..." However, the oracle would be a key trigger to all of this starting, as well as its continuation, and if I don't have a PC Swordlord, I'll have to use the NPC swordlord to accomplish one of the early events, and I'd rather use a PC.

Understandable. I do not want spoilers and I defiantly want the Oracle! Would it work to have me combined it? Have an Oracle and a SwordLord?

Hey Wyrm, favor/question to ask:

Would you mind if I swapped the Elven alternate racial trait Fey Magic for Elven Magic as opposed to Keen Senses? Aka, I loose Elven Magic and gain Fey Magic, instead of loosing Keen Senses. If not, its totally cool, and I will possibly go Gnome instead of Elf, but I figured I would ask, just in case.

Fey Magic (2 RP): The character has a mystic connection to one terrain type, selected from the ranger's favored terrain list. The character selects three 0-level druid spells and one 1st-level druid spell. If the character has a Charisma score of 11 or higher, when in the selected terrain, she gains these spells as spell-like abilities that can be cast once per day. The caster level for these effects is equal to the user's character level. The DC for the spell-like abilities is equal to 10 + the spell's level + the user's Charisma modifier. These spells are treated as being from a fey source for the purposes of the druid's resist nature's lure class feature and similar abilities. This trait replaces keen senses.

Btw, looking over Hanspur's entry in Inner Sea Faiths, I see nothing about his faithful being required to drown another. Perhaps its an older tenant that has since been gotten rid of?

In fact, they go out of their way to prevent drowning, as that's how Hanspur's mortal life ended.

Also, while nobles might decry them, the local populace is likely to receive them with at least mild warmth. They are protectors of the River Sellen after all, and as such, help protect the lifeblood of the River Kingdoms.

Of course, that's my personal take on Hanspur and his faithful, after reading his section in ISF.

If it specifies what it replaces, then I'm sticking with that.

Ok will be going going with the swordlord archetype fighter and the seer archetype oracle. Not sure which curse I want yet but I think I will be taking the Lore mystery since it fits so well. It will most likely be the visions that bring them to this event and sign up.

Do you want the fighter to be the PC? Because either way is fine by me since I am playing both anyways.

Also what are your final rulings on all the mythic stuff? Is leadership going to be putting them on the same page? Also considering what you are planning for this game the mythic path abilities and mythic feats make a lot of sense. I hope I get to play and see them in action. It is always easier to figure it out that way for me.

And for the siblings I can have one of them go into the Swordlord prestige class. Most likely the rouge but I am not sure just yet. May I ask what the potential use would be for the siblings?

Aww, I just built my characters (not posting until 100% done mechanically; and still deciding just how much I want Quick Draw vs Weapon Trick) and they're two brothers, and the higher level one is a Swordlord. Hmm. I guess we could always be rivals or something. (I'm playing around with other fighter archetypes because it feels like they fit the "expert with a sword" flavor better)

* * *

Okay, and a few GM questions before I can finish things:

1. I assumed "8,000 gold item" cap was for the enchantment cost itself, but one of your replies seems to imply otherwise. Does this mean no +2 weapons? (Because I'm having trouble finding *anything* that costs 4,000-8,000 gp, meaning it will be very hard to figure out how to spend all the starting gold—there aren't enough slots for 2k items).

2. Do spell-storing and/or dispelling ammunition count as potions or scrolls?

3. Your tracking sheet doesn't list "defend" or "tank" as a combat role, so I had to sort of improvise (since fighters are mostly built as a defensive class). Would it make sense to add a column for "role" or "mythic concept" to get kind of a sense of what people are planning to do?

4. The Surtovas are a house of Bad Dudes (at least, that's what I got from the bit of Kingmaker I've done before), and they're very Pro-Issia/Anti-Rostland, which also means they do *not* get along well with Swordlords. Is there a campaign reason to justify the fact that we're a mostly-good-aligned party working for a house of pirates and murderers, and that we've got at least one Swordlord working for someoen the entire order probably sings dirty songs about — or should we expect that to be a source of conflict in-game, and plan our backstories to account for why we're working for "the enemy"?

Kind of depends if you are from Minov. If not then they would not be likely to know each other. If you are then sure we could be rivals, friends, or something else.

I know I am wanting the Oracle and the Swordlord but there is nothing to say that we both cannot be Sworldlords. The Wyrm is having a huge party so it is likely that, considering the setting, that there will be a few of them.

Nope! Definitely not from Mivon. Affiliation with the Restov Academy, trained in city-skills, etc. Probably some character there, actually, if we've got two swordlords trained by different schools/masters, so that should be fine.

If you want a slightly different flavor, Daring Champion Cavalier and into the PrC would probably give you the highest-damage build. (I'm toying around with some sort of spellcut/retaliation build—if we get high enough level/mythic, my swordlord should basically be a steel wall that spells and arrows can't pass through—but I'm guessing you're building for either damage or maneuvers)

Nope these two would have never been to that academy. They would have been taught by their families as I understand it. There is not a lot of information that I am finding about the area. Though you might have visited the dueling platform to test your strength. That is something that Swordlord from Brevoy do and they tend to find that they have issues winning every match. The Swordlord of Mivon train and test their strength no just against each other but bandits.

I love maneuvers! And If I stay fighter I can pull off, feat wise, tripping and disarm. Which are my favorites. The Mythic stuff just makes it better!

@ GM Wyrm I assume that if I opt to go with the prestige class I do not have to max it out? Though it is far more likely that I will go with the fighter because the Swordlord prestige class is not all that appealing to me.

I am honestly excited about this!

Also if anyone has a list of the names of the Swordlord that left Brevoy and settled in Mivon that would be wonderful if you could share that. It may be that my google foo is weakened by how ill I still am but I am not finding any actual names. If I get to make them up that is fine by me but if there is an actual list I would want to use that.

I'm currently working on an inquisitor of Abadar investigating if they want to invest in the establishment of this new kingdom, so I was going to have a bunch of extra cash, but if you want us to just have 200 gold, I'd like that list of trade goods you'd suggest.

Ok so I think for my Oracle I am wanting the Forgotten past story feat. Concerning the traits her drawback will be the Fey taken. I am wanting her to have been stolen by the Fey in her youth. She remembers nothing of her time with them but when she was returned she began to receive visions. This was a byproduct of her time with the Fey, maybe even the First World. That would be something that could be worked out.

So considering what I have so far I am torn of the mystery that I want. Nature and Spellscar are two that I am stuck on. Both fit the theme of the Fey fairly well in my mind. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Should we consider the characters own children to be followers? Or would bringing 5-6 year olds along be ill advised right now?

I have pretty much wrapped up Yuri Magrar, dwarf wizard, alias of Pendrak.

Yuri is a LN dwarf conjurer from the Golushkin Hold in Brevoy, and a cousin to Toval Golka. Contact between the outside world and the Golushkin dwarves was cut off in 4699, during the same fateful time that House Rogarvia disappeared from Brevoy. Educated in Tar-Kazmukh, and seasoned as an adventurer in the badlands of Numeria, Yuri now leads a small remnant of his family to hopefully establish a new home in the River Kingdoms, while looking for a way to eventually solve the mystery of the Vanishing.

When you get around to reading the backstory let me know if you have any issues with the assumptions I made about the Golushkin dwarves in it.

I'm doing a complete 180. Not seeing a lot of nature based submissions so I think I'll brush off an old concept and spruce it up a bit. A halfling druid with a Roc companion. Rains spells from high above. Pairing him up with a ranger for some martial strength.

DM, thank you for your prompt replies. Thunderbeard, thank you for the suggestion; I was not half-elves / half-orcs were eligible for the feat, for I didn't think a feat was classified as an "effect" from race.

To follow-up:

1. That continuum was intended to see how subtle/explosive you were in your intrigue, so it was more a question of mechanism than ability.

2. I agree it is unhealthy to have a fixation on such gruesome descriptions for a character's functionality.

3. The watersinger and Hanspur questions go hand-in-hand; I won't be delving into those options.

4. I can't click those multitude of links of of concern they're NSFW right now (I'm at work on break), but I'll be sure to at home to see if there is a joke / sarcasm within. Partially, the reason was in consideration for the platypus being a familiar for my shaman. Do let me know if that's a deal-breaker!

Some follower questions:

1. Should we take the -1 penalty to leadership score for "moving around a lot" if it fits our character's backstory? For instance, I have Aramil recruiting his followers just before the trip in his timeline, but prior to that he was adventuring, so would that apply?

2. When you say "1/3 of Level 1 followers can have PC class levels", do you want us to round up or down?

3. After we buy gear for our followers, do you mind if we pool the gold they have left and use it to buy wagons and supplies and such?

I would also like to see that list of trade goods.

I'm thinking of making a ranger, either elf or gnome, who is very fey themed. His cohort will likely be a druid, also fey themed.

There's a book about the First World and The Eldest coming out shortly, but I am unsure if I will have the time to read it before the character creation deadline.

As it contains a PrC, the Feysworn, that I very much might want to take, would you be allowing retraining once game began? In case I am unable to read it all in time.

Sadly, I also just found out there's going to be a Legacy of the First World companion, but not till May!!! (Just grumbling here on my part. This character would probably benefit a great deal from the material in that book!)

Also, I noticed in character creation that you only get 1 background skill per level, as opposed to the normal 2 per the rules.

Is this intentional?

I think, though I am not entirely certain, that he means you get +1 Background Skill point, as in in addition to the regular 2 Unchained rules give. So, basically, 3 Background Skill points per level.

Disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, GM TWO. Other than that little fact I may simply be entirely wrong about this. :-)

It should be easy enough to figure out how many background skill points we get by looking at the characters from the other game...

dot...

Not really, Oyzar. The previous GM didn't use Background Skills for character creation.

OK, I'm thinking a pair of Treesinger half-elves. Concepts incoming.

This is the first I have looked into the scaling items and I love them! I do have a question about them. If I get one, which will clearly be at the level abilities, how does the upgrade happen in game?
Is it a ritual or does it just happen?
Also how does gold factor into this? I assume I have to pay to have it leveled up but I want to know how.

Are the followers a 10 point by? That is what I have run across in the past.

Edit: The description of the dueling sword says that it counts as a martial weapon, basically a long sword, unless I am wanting to use dexterity to damage. I am building a strength based fighter so I will not be needing the proficiency then? I have had odd GM's claim I still would so I though I would ask.

Also the combat feats I am picking are all about disarming and knocking the other combatant prone. Seems like the the to do and I hope you do not mind trip builds. They are my favorite!

As for our backgrounds, what can we have accomplished? At seven level, with a 5th level cohort there's a fair amount we could do. Would it be ok if we liberated a small town? Killed off/captured a minor bad guy? Defeated some similar level monster? etc

Edit: How are you handling animal companions, familiars and special mounts? Do we equip them out of our own gold, cohort gold, do they get their own gold?

Do they also get max HP? Any other special rules for them?

Re: Hanspur:

Hanspur is numbered among the Forbidden Gods because his adherents also take involuntary sacrifices by traveling with unsuspecting strangers until, one night, they drown their victims in the god’s waters.

They make sacrifices to their god by drowning animals, as well as criminals—usually just the convicted, but particularly zealous and impatient worshipers are not know for being so discerning. Evil priests are said to murder in his name, especially to prevent disastrous floods.

There is nothing about his followers in either piece about the faithful going out of their way to prevent drowning, only that druids get water walk at 3rd, and rangers get water breathing at 2nd.

Nobles wouldn't decry Hanspur, but he's definitely a 'god of the people' more than he is a 'god of the nobility'. They'll pay at least basic lip service to him, but his priests aren't what you'd call 'movers and shakers' by any stretch of the imagination.

DAA: Lots of Qs from you.

First, make sure you're writing Mivon, not Minov. You've corrected this recently, just make sure it stays corrected. ;)

Second, the Oracle. Forgotten Past is fine for your story feat; you are not reincarnated, you are missing some of your memory, which undoubtedly occurred when you were taken by the fey. Which oracle Mystery you go with is up to you, though I will caution that if you pick Nature and Bonded Mount, that can penalize your Cohort.

Third, lead character. I personally would probably play the oracle as the lead character, but this too is up to you; there are numerous ways you could run either one as the lead.

Fourth, the mythic leadership feats are still in flux, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. It is likely that some, if not most, of them will be moved to a minimum of 3rd tier, and possibly 6th tier.

Finally, the swordlord.

For a proper Aldori swordlord, whether from Restov or Mivon, and including getting all the really cool swordlord feats and such, you absolutely need to be able to use the weapon to its utmost - which means Weapon Finesse, as all of the later feats in that chain require that feat. If you want to really go to town on your maneuvers, you'd want Agile Maneuvers as well. Otherwise, while you do not NEED the EWP feat for the blade, everyone you know - the Mivon swordsmen from whom you come, not to mention the Aldori swordsmen amongst whom you currently walk - would view you as a brute swinging around a weapon meant to be used with grace and style. Which, to be honest, you would be.

As well, while the character(s) may not have been to Restov before, your swordsman's family would not be the only one to teach him - and, in fact, probably would NOT have taught him. If the family was wealthy, he would have had private lessons from instructors in the house's salle; if not wealthy, he would have gone to a school instead. A school does not have to be a large building with scores of students; a loft above a stables with a half-dozen students a night, two or three times a week, for maybe 20 students total, would be a school as well.

Finally, a bit of commentary about the two swordlords:

Remember the requirement that they have some amount of fame 'under their belt'. Since Restov swordlords often go to Mivon to test their mettle, and oftimes Mivon swordlords 'return to the homeland' to see how their 'more liberal' approach measures up, if either of you have traveled, the other can easily have known about you - and you might easily have fought a duel against each other at some point, though probably only to first blood.

Having multiple swordlords is fine, and does not hurt the campaign a whit. And while I recall one of the legacy characters' cohorts was an Aldori swordlord, I don't remember if they're here or not. (Gotta get that sheet updated.)

You do not have to go with the swordlord archetype or PrC; if you go with either, you do not have to max them out. You will gain in prestige (the term, not the system) and respect in both Restov and Mivon if you are a 'true swordlord', with the archetype/PrC/recognizeable feats and suchlike, however.

(And AFAIK, no 'list of names' of those who fled to Mivon has been written or posted. Go with a Slavic / Eastern European tone.)

Note for anyone playing a swordlord - Read the Riverside novels by Ellen Kushner,'Swordspoint' and 'The Privilege of the Sword', for some really, really good flavor.

This is the first I have looked into the scaling items and I love them! I do have a question about them. If I get one, which will clearly be at the level abilities, how does the upgrade happen in game? Is it a ritual or does it just happen? Also how does gold factor into this? I assume I have to pay to have it leveled up but I want to know how.

I haven't played extensively with scaling items before myself, but the upgrade may be keyed to a ritual (which requires the appropriate amount of gold in exotic incenses, rare herbs, pure water, etc.), may 'just happen', or what-have-you. Essentially, the 'new value' it possesses takes up a portion of your WbL, whether that's due to spending it on the item to get the scaling to trigger, or simply because that's the reward you receive.

Are the followers a 10 point by? That is what I have run across in the past.

If you wish to build your followers, use the Basic NPC scale for attributes; alternately, you can use a 3-point buy (which is what Basic NPC works out to).

1. Should we take the -1 penalty to leadership score for "moving around a lot" if it fits our character's backstory? For instance, I have Aramil recruiting his followers just before the trip in his timeline, but prior to that he was adventuring, so would that apply?

Technically, yes, but I'll waive it for now unless you want me to get picky.

2. When you say "1/3 of Level 1 followers can have PC class levels", do you want us to round up or down?

Round to the closest - so 3 out of 10, 7 out of 20.

3. After we buy gear for our followers, do you mind if we pool the gold they have left and use it to buy wagons and supplies and such?

I think this is a very good idea, and heartily endorse it. I will, in fact, allow money to 'trickle down', meaning that your leaders can purchase gear for their cohorts and followers, though still going by the expenditure rules for the follower. (Meaning your leader can buy expensive mundane equipment for your followers.)

I'm currently working on an inquisitor of Abadar investigating if they want to invest in the establishment of this new kingdom, so I was going to have a bunch of extra cash, but if you want us to just have 200 gold, I'd like that list of trade goods you'd suggest.

I would also like to see that list of trade goods.

I'll put a new sheet containing the trade goods onto the tracking file found up top. For now it'll be mostly valuable spices (you would not believe the medieval value of saffron), and I'll have to tweak a few to bring them more in line with Golarion values.

I am considering using the trade-bar valuables as well (trade bars are about 4" long, 2" wide, and a bit over 1" thick), but do not appear to balance with 'what we know of' goods in Golarion. For example, you can get an adamantine breastplate for 10,200 gp, which weighs 30 lbs. But value-by-weight, an adamantine trade bar of the above dimensions weighs 8.3 lbs and costs 65,000gp. Iron, by contrast, weighs 2.6 lbs and costs 0.86 gp; silver, 3.5 lbs and 315 gp, and gold, 6.4 lbs and 21,700 gp.

Clearly either my trade bars need to be reworked, or people should come to understand that the coinage used in D&D and its variants is not its actual value, and when you say you spend a GP, that's just a handy benchmark - and you're actually spending a certain value, which here is represented by GP, but could be called skittles, shillings, pounds, lira, or whatever. (I have a whole thing about coinage and valueables that can be found here.)

1. I assumed "8,000 gold item" cap was for the enchantment cost itself, but one of your replies seems to imply otherwise. Does this mean no +2 weapons? (Because I'm having trouble finding *anything* that costs 4,000-8,000 gp, meaning it will be very hard to figure out how to spend all the starting gold—there aren't enough slots for 2k items).

Not to be too offensive, but your assumptions are not my problem. The caps are one (1) item of 8,000gp or less; one (1) item of 4,000gp or less; etc. If you're having issues with this, you perhaps need to revise your view on a few things - like having a +2 magic weapon.

2. Do spell-storing and/or dispelling ammunition count as potions or scrolls?

No. First, a spell-storing weapon must be a melee weapon, so it clearly can't be ammunition; second, dispelling ammunition must first be enchanted to at least a +1 value, and thus could not possibly be considered a potion or scroll.

3. Your tracking sheet doesn't list "defend" or "tank" as a combat role, so I had to sort of improvise (since fighters are mostly built as a defensive class). Would it make sense to add a column for "role" or "mythic concept" to get kind of a sense of what people are planning to do?

'Defend/Tank' would be 'melee'. The 'role' column is not a bad idea; the first 'fluff' column to the far right has been converted to 'Role / Concept'.

4. The Surtovas are a house of Bad Dudes (at least, that's what I got from the bit of Kingmaker I've done before), and they're very Pro-Issia/Anti-Rostland, which also means they do *not* get along well with Swordlords. Is there a campaign reason to justify the fact that we're a mostly-good-aligned party working for a house of pirates and murderers, and that we've got at least one Swordlord working for someoen the entire order probably sings dirty songs about — or should we expect that to be a source of conflict in-game, and plan our backstories to account for why we're working for "the enemy"?

...

No. There is no campaign reason to justify the fact that you're applying to survey the Stolen Lands for a house of pirates and murderers. As I said in 'About the Campaign', "... this is Noleski Surtova stealing a march on the Restov Swordlords, so politics and a social situation will be involved right out of the gate." If your character feels that the Surtovas are all nasty, evil gits, and that they're backstabbing the Swordlords, and that he shouldn't reply to the poster no matter what, then don't reply to the poster - to wit, don't apply to the game.

If you still think you might respond to the poster, but that's how you view the entire house, and in fact an entire sector of Brevoy society, then that's something you're going to have to deal with IC. I might note, though, that if viewed through the same glasses you're looking at the Surtovas with, Restov's Swordlords are thugs, bravos, and murderers, and every other House of Brevoy has its own black, tarry lining.

I will be inserting some basic information on the Campaign Info page about Chalm Surtova, but the short of it is the following:

he's a respected cavalier (Order of the Blue Rose) who has been serving as the commander of the forces on Surtova's western border with Numeria. Though he's never easy on them, his troops have all respected him greatly, and it's said that his reputation for honesty and fair dealing - as well as a most fearsome ability to dominate his surroundings on the battlefield - has brought Kellid warbands to negotiate peace with him before the battle. Not that he just gives things away, you understand; he is equally well-known for negotiating from a position of strength, and is willing to intimidate the hell out of his foes in order to secure peace. His bastard sword, made of a blue-tinged steel, is known as the Blue Flame (perhaps in honor of his patron deity, Sarenrae, which is notably different than most Brevoy nobles), and is said to be so dangerous he is careful to only use the flat of the blade.

I'm thinking of making a ranger, either elf or gnome, who is very fey themed. His cohort will likely be a druid, also fey themed.

There's a book about the First World and The Eldest coming out shortly, but I am unsure if I will have the time to read it before the character creation deadline.

As it contains a PrC, the Feysworn, that I very much might want to take, would you be allowing retraining once game began? In case I am unable to read it all in time.

Sadly, I also just found out there's going to be a Legacy of the First World companion, but not till May!!! (Just grumbling here on my part. This character would probably benefit a great deal from the material in that book!)

I may not allow retraining, but I certainly expect that you would have the opportunity to enter the PrC in-game. (I am sad that I don't have this information as of yet!! But I'll no doubt be able to get it in time to really kick things up a notch. Muahahaha.)

Also, I noticed in character creation that you only get 1 background skill per level, as opposed to the normal 2 per the rules.

I think, though I am not entirely certain, that he means you get +1 Background Skill point, as in in addition to the regular 2 Unchained rules give. So, basically, 3 Background Skill points per level.

Mssr. Castor is entirely correct. You get an effective 3 background skill points per level; that +1 meant +1, not 'just one'.

1. That continuum was intended to see how subtle/explosive you were in your intrigue, so it was more a question of mechanism than ability.

I'm sorry, I still don't comprehend quite how you mean 'subtle/explosive', or how Howard Dean fits into it, as I have no real knowledge of how he handles intrigue. Considering that Niccolo recommends at one time or another everything from quiet rumormongering to bloody pogroms, I don't think you can use HIM as a spectrum endpoint either.

How the group handles each of the situations I hand y'all is entirely up to you. Sometimes there will be options that are blatantly the best ones to take; sometimes it'll be a difficult thing to suss out. Which ones you choose will, again, be entirely up to you.

2. I agree it is unhealthy to have a fixation on such gruesome descriptions for a character's functionality.

Then why did you ask the question??

3. The watersinger and Hanspur questions go hand-in-hand; I won't be delving into those options.

Okay.

4. I can't click those multitude of links of of concern they're NSFW right now (I'm at work on break), but I'll be sure to at home to see if there is a joke / sarcasm within. Partially, the reason was in consideration for the platypus being a familiar for my shaman. Do let me know if that's a deal-breaker!

Links are all to bits from Phillip M. Jackson's webcomic 'Sequential Art', and are all SFW. (And frickin' hilarious.) However, to be completely honest no self-respecting platypus would be caught dead evolving anywhere near the Inner Sea region. (And yes, they're standard animals, not wizardly creations, so they DID evolve, and out of necessity that would have had to have been in significant isolation. They're platypodes - they belong seven thousand miles away, in the Golarion-equivalent of Australia. So let's not be ludicrous, hm?)

Should we consider the characters own children to be followers? Or would bringing 5-6 year olds along be ill advised right now?

... that ... is a question that caught me totally by surprise, and I congratulate you most emphatically on wanting such a personally-developed character or characters.

To answer the question, unless the children were adults in their own right (e.g. 15+ years old, with 'a class level', even if that's an NPC class) they would not count as followers. (Plus, followers will actually, you know, do what you say. Can't always say that about a 5-6yo.) Your family (husband/wife and children) could easily be one of the 'first wave' of explorers/settlers intending to move into the Stolen Lands; it isn't precisely safe, but then again, it doesn't look like Brevoy is going to be a haven of peace and prosperity in the coming months and years, so ... you pays your money and you takes your chances. Speaking as the GM, I would LOVe for you to have them.

As for our backgrounds, what can we have accomplished? At seven level, with a 5th level cohort there's a fair amount we could do. Would it be ok if we liberated a small town? Killed off/captured a minor bad guy? Defeated some similar level monster? etc.

Bandits, pirates, participating in battles on the Western Front against the Numerian Kellids. If you're from further afield, yes, you can be a liberator (or ravager) of a town or two - with whichever group you manage to get together.

How are you handling animal companions, familiars and special mounts? Do we equip them out of our own gold, cohort gold, do they get their own gold?

Do they also get max HP? Any other special rules for them?

Animal companions, special mounts, familiars, etc. are equipped out of your gold, just like normal; buying gear that happens to be for them counts in regards to your magic items, so be careful there. They get max HP, but they are otherwise standard examples of creatures of their type. Remember that if you have an animal companion/etc., you take a hit to your Cohort Leadership Score, and if that dips low enough, your cohort may not be 5th level.

Questions!

Do you still want my Swordlord to be the main character with the Oracle being the cohort?

Will the forgotten past story feat be ok for the oracle? Not sure which one I want for the fighter.

Oh and with the followers. Do we have to have all of them right now? Instead I can I just have a few of them and fill out the number later?

Not to be too offensive, but your assumptions are not my problem.

Whoa! No offense meant. I was just semantically confused, because your initial post lists "magic cost up to..." but your second one said "item cost up to..." The part I'm having trouble with now is figuring out a dozen cheap magic items that I actually have use for so I don't wind up with ten thousand gold worth of trade goods, but that's something I should be able to find my way through.

dispelling ammunition must first be enchanted to at least a +1 value, and thus could not possibly be considered a potion or scroll.

I meant whether it counts against the 10 potion/scroll maximum, since dispelling ammo is a consumable item. Good to know that spell-storing is melee-only; it wasn't in 3.5, and some of my players I guess have been using it wrong ever since.

If your character feels that the Surtovas are all nasty, evil gits, and that they're backstabbing the Swordlords...

Right, I should have phrased that differently. But hearing about Chalm is useful. King Noleski isn't so bad, but House Surtova in general tends to historically lean LE, and I was wondering why CG would be a more acceptable party alignment than CN/LE (and whether it was a story reason or a GM reason). And the whole "end banditry/piracy" thing without further context seemed a bit weird with all the rumors that House Surtova still has ties to banditry and piracy.

But "working for one of the good Surtovas" is probably a good enough reason for my character, though it might still tilt my alignment choice.

Am I able to have a +1 weapon that will cost me 20075gp and it still could under the 2000gp cost? Or is that a no go?

Do you still want my Swordlord to be the main character with the Oracle being the cohort?

Will the forgotten past story feat be ok for the oracle? Not sure which one I want for the fighter.

I believe I gave answers to both of these, but if it's tl;dr for you, for the first, you decide, and for the second, I said 'yes, memory loss not reincarnated'.

Oh and with the followers. Do we have to have all of them right now? Instead I can I just have a few of them and fill out the number later?

As stated, you do not have to write out all your followers; not doing so will assume they have the gear necessary for their class/task. You should at least have something like '3x warrior (archer), 2x expert (crafter)', that sort of thing, so that we know their class/task IS.

Am I able to have a +1 weapon that will cost me 20075gp and it still could under the 2000gp cost? Or is that a no go?

Presuming you meant 2075 gp, that is not equal to or less than 2000 gp.

The Wyrm Ouroboros wrote:

Not to be too offensive, but your assumptions are not my problem.

Whoa! No offense meant. I was just semantically confused, because your initial post lists "magic cost up to..." but your second one said "item cost up to..."

Just double-checked, and sorry, but that's your mis-reading. Both of the phrases 'magic cost' and 'item cost' are missing from the entire first page; I was quite consistent with 'Magic item limit' followed by '1 magic up to' or 'any magic up to' or specific 'X wand/potion/scroll'.

However, I'm glad that's been clarified for you.

The part I'm having trouble with now is figuring out a dozen cheap magic items that I actually have use for so I don't wind up with ten thousand gold worth of trade goods, but that's something I should be able to find my way through.

I certainly hope so. There are a score or more small magic items that'll make your life easier one way or another. Hell, you could get muleback cords (1,000 gp) sized for your horse, or request a heavyload belt (2,000 gp) converted to a saddle (or both!!) and kick its load limit through the roof.

The Wyrm Ouroboros wrote:

dispelling ammunition must first be enchanted to at least a +1 value, and thus could not possibly be considered a potion or scroll.

I meant whether it counts against the 10 potion/scroll maximum, since dispelling ammo is a consumable item. Good to know that spell-storing is melee-only; it wasn't in 3.5, and some of my players I guess have been using it wrong ever since.

No, they don't count against scrolls/potions - though I should note that should you go for an extremely expensive potion or scroll, it'll take up the appropriate slot (4,000gp, 8,000gp) instead of whatever else you might want there.

The Wyrm Ouroboros wrote:

If your character feels that the Surtovas are all nasty, evil gits, and that they're backstabbing the Swordlords...

Right, I should have phrased that differently. But hearing about Chalm is useful. King Noleski isn't so bad, but House Surtova in general tends to historically lean LE, and I was wondering why CG would be a more acceptable party alignment than CN/LE (and whether it was a story reason or a GM reason). And the whole "end banditry/piracy" thing without further context seemed a bit weird with all the rumors that House Surtova still has ties to banditry and piracy.

But "working for one of the good Surtovas" is probably a good enough reason for my character, though it might still tilt my alignment choice.

... I think you have the totally wrong interpretation. You do understand that it's Noleski who most likely orchestrated the simultaneous assassinations of House Rogarvia, then strong-armed most of the rest of the Great Houses into backing him, don't you? He may show as TN to a Detect Alignment, but I think it's pretty clear that he's the one holding the strings on the puppet theater that is the majority of Brevoy politics.

Since this being a Kingmaker campaign, the 'end banditry' is kind of part and parcel of creating your own kindom in the region, so ... I don't think there's context missing at all. That the Surtovas probably have ties (carefully unproveable, eh?) to pirates and raiders (and probably bandits too) is a matter of hands-off quasi-diplomacy - being able to have 'the bad guys' back off when you want, or to pick their prey amongst your enemies, is a classic tactic in pre-Industrial politics. Hell, it's still a tactic, just that the bandits and pirates don't always use swords and guns any more.

Also, as said above about Chalm, don't confuse 'good' with 'nice' or even 'kind' ...

Anyhow. Questions.

There is a lot of words on this page and I may have missed things. Thank you for answering, again. Sorry.

I will get on that now.

Heh. Good to know. Guess I'm going with a fighter who's good at being diplomatic.

I would point out that Spheres of Power, from what I've read aren't designed in a way that dovetails well with mythic.

If I may, why are witches disallowed? (Not looking to dispute your call, just curious to the reasons behind the decision, as you explained your stance regarding psychic magic & psionics.)

Regarding religion... say I'm looking to play a ranger with the Sword-Devil archetype, trained by a She-Devil with a Sword with hair the color of flames. If she wanted to follow the same goddess as her mentor, who is not a Golarion-official goddess, would that be permissible? Could some of her followers be adepts of that goddess? I was thinking perhaps her cohort could be some kind of divine character of the Red Goddess, but I can go back to the drawing board if you'd rather I nix it. Worth noting that details regarding Scathach are incredibly spare.

Heh. Good to know. Guess I'm going with a fighter who's good at being diplomatic.

*laughs*

I would point out that Spheres of Power, from what I've read aren't designed in a way that dovetails well with mythic.

Or, rather, SoP hasn't developed any material for Mythic. Good point. This will tend to lean my preference away from SoP for this campaign. Thank you for this.

If I may, why are witches disallowed? (Not looking to dispute your call, just curious to the reasons behind the decision, as you explained your stance regarding psychic magic & psionics.)

Search page: 'Witch'.

Regarding religion... say I'm looking to play a ranger with the Sword-Devil archetype, trained by a She-Devil with a Sword with hair the color of flames. If she wanted to follow the same goddess as her mentor, who is not a Golarion-official goddess, would that be permissible? Could some of her followers be adepts of that goddess? I was thinking perhaps her cohort could be some kind of divine character of the Red Goddess, but I can go back to the drawing board if you'd rather I nix it. Worth noting that details regarding Scathach are incredibly spare.

Well, say I'm wondering what Paizo book the Sword-Devil archetype is in. Could you give me that information? Would it exist? How about Scathach? No? There are plenty of deities and near-deities that you might follow that are canon to Golarion that fill the same essential niche of 'whirlwind of vengeance and destruction'. Sekhmet of the ancient Osirians is a perfect example if you're looking for someone a CG character could follow; Eiseth, the Erinyes Whore Queen of battle, reveng and wrath one that a LN character might pursue. If Good, you might follow the Empyreal Lord Ragathiel (for Vengeance), or any of the various warlike empyreal lords.

In brief, however, no, I am not allowing people to come up with 3PP or their own deities. (And to be honest, you really, really wouldn't like it if I did ...)

For my blind character, could I use a combination of the Sleight of Hand and Perception skills to pick up and properly interpret impressions left behind by a pressure-based writing tool on a surface?

As far as the Sword-Devil ranger archetype and Scathach are concerned, they are derived from Red Sonja (although Scathach originally is a figure in Irish or Celtic mythology). The archetype is not exactly 3PP as Pathfinder Worldscape #1, the comic its mechanics are specified in, is a collaboration between Paizo and Dynamite Entertainment, a comic book company (though I think I read in one of those blog posts that the various archetypes and feats and whatnot presented in this particular comic may be collected and included in some future Pathfinder book).

The following link should perhaps give a bit more info.

Sword-Devil

I think I want the Tongues curse for the Oracle and I was wondering if I could add Sylvan to the list? She received the 'gift of visions' from her time with the Fey so that one makes sense.

DM, I believe I'll have to bow out. I've got into another game that I wasn't really expecting and now my plate is full. Good luck everyone!

And another question, this time regarding the Blinded Blade Style feat. It seems--based on its only activation requirement being impaired vision--to be always on, unlike other style feats which clearly specify an action requirement to use, and thus only grant their benefit in combat. Is this a valid interpretation?

No clue if this is my last question but I can get a mount though a mystery and i would like to have something other than a horse. If I took the monsterous Mount feat at the same time I get the mystery could I have a griffon come into my life?

Thank you for answering the questions about Followers. I was asking because I calculated Aramil's leadership score with the penalty for moving around in the first place, so I'll stick with the -1 which gets me 5 followers.

I'm also going to give Aramil a slight rework in terms of his build. I initially built him to be a Strength Magus Swordlord, but I realized I wasn't particularly happy with the end result, and it doesn't fit the theme of Swordlord anyway. So, I'm switching him to Dex-based with more Swordlord attributes. He's more appropriate and fits the theme better that way, too.

The Sword-Devil is an archetype written by Erik Mona and published in Pathfinder Worldscape #1. He gives an overview of the archetype in this blog post.