Sorry for the confusion, thunderbeard, the Player NPC Tracking Sheet is mine. I created it for the Legacy players doing some of their pre-campaign RPing and such, since we're doing lots of information gathering. It is not something the GM is requiring for character creation.
.The returning weapon ability, or a blinkback belt, will let you boomerang it quite nicely.
Doesn't actually work like that. Blinkback/returning just brings the scabbard back, either to your hand or belt; but since you can't TWF with it well one of your hands is now holding something useless. If you have a way to sheathe your weapon as a free action (e.g. Combat Stamina + Quick Draw), you could keep sheathing your sword and then shooting a scabbard off of it every turn, but it would take quite a bit of work to pull off and also look super weird. Opening Volley is a neat trick, though. (But at only level 5-7, everyone's extremely feat-starved)
40 should be fine.
dwilhelmi - that sounds like a good RP plan; run with it.
I'll have to add 10 days then. I bought rations and feed for 30 days and found out something odd. Feed is extremely cheap (5 copper for a day) but very heavy. I have 5 animals (3 herbivores and 2 carnivores(I assume a Roc does not qualify as a bird for feeding purposes)). That's 40 pounds a day for 40 days so 1600 pounds. Almost half capacity for a heavy wagon. I never thought I'd hit 4000lbs but I now have to watch out for that.
Lyda will be bringing tools based around self sufficiency (Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Leatherworking). I assume artisan's tools will cover most tools involved in the craft. Probably need to add an anvil or two and bellows. But is there anything outside the crafting tools or other crafts I need to add tools for to start a village? Farming tools. Need to add those. And seeds. How much are seeds? Tailoring tools. Fishing net. Can I just say 1000gp worht of basic tools? This might get big and complex.
Lyda's Age:
Starting - 60 + = 83
Level 7 adjustment (7 * 6d6) - = 12 years 6 months
Total + 4 months = 95 years 10 months old
Deneb's Age:
Starting - 20 + = 34
Level 7 adjustment (7 * 4d6) - = 8 years 1 month
Total + 3 months = 42 years 4 months old
That puts Deneb 8 years from middle age. I pictured him being younger. If I assume average rounded down that's 32 + 7 = 39 years. Naw. Still too old. He's going to be 34 and 4 months. Lyda is still 55 years from middle age. That's fine.
.The returning weapon ability, or a blinkback belt, will let you boomerang it quite nicely.Doesn't actually work like that. Blinkback/returning just brings the scabbard back, either to your hand or belt; but since you can't TWF with it well one of your hands is now holding something useless. If you have a way to sheathe your weapon as a free action (e.g. Combat Stamina + Quick Draw), you could keep sheathing your sword and then shooting a scabbard off of it every turn, but it would take quite a bit of work to pull off and also look super weird. Opening Volley is a neat trick, though. (But at only level 5-7, everyone's extremely feat-starved)
I should have specificed that the scabbard is used as a regular throwing weapon after the initial trick use.
Zayne, if it helps, Lyda should be 83 years plus 6*6d6 months, not plus 7*6d6 months, and Deneb should be 34 years plus 3*4d6 months, not 7*4d6 months.
Then add the 3-4 months that you've been at level 7 on top of those.
*disclaimer, I'm only 85% sure my math is right for your characters.
Hey TWO, I've got a couple of quick questions regarding plant stuff for you.
a) Does my Sapling Treant plant companion bother people in public places the same way as say, a wolf companion would?
b) What does my plant companion eat? Did you want to re-flavor (bad pun, sorry) some sort of animal feed item, or do something else entirely? Creatures of the 'Plant' type eat per RAW, but it doesn't exactly say what they eat, that I could find.
b) What does my plant companion eat? Did you want to re-flavor (bad pun, sorry) some sort of animal feed item, or do something else entirely? Creatures of the 'Plant' type eat per RAW, but it doesn't exactly say what they eat, that I could find.
This is hilarious. Soil and sunlight? Except it's winter, and soil might actually be in short supply, meaning you'd need a big pot of it in one of your wagons...
Sam C. and thunderbeard thank you. I will look into those options.
I would also assume that you need a pot of soil.
Oops. Minus those last dice gives me...
Lyda's Age:
Starting - 60 + 6d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 1, 4, 6, 4) = 23 = 83
Level 7 adjustment (6 * 6d6) - 36d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 4, 2, 2, 5, 5, 2, 5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 5, 2, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 1, 4, 6, 6, 2, 5, 4, 5, 6, 6, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2) = 124 = 10 years 4 months
Total + 4 months = 93 years 8 months old
Deneb's Age:
Starting - 20 + 4d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 3, 3) = 14 = 34
Level 5 adjustment (3 * 4d6) - 12d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 3, 4, 2, 1) = 30 = 2 years 6 month
Total + 3 months = 36 years 9 months old
That's better. I should be careful with copy/paste.
I don't love the idea of carrying a pot around. Maybe I could just teach it the 'Hunt' trick and let it make its own survival check? Or tack it onto my Survival check for that matter? I'd expect between a Druid, a Ranger, and a walking tree we could beat even a rough survival check to find food on the daily, or worst case, magic our way through it.
Ok so for my fighter I know what story feat I want. Truth Seeker
The original location that she would have visited was where her sister was taken. Not sure what the location could be but since the languages are a mix of Alko and Slyvan I assume it was a underground building they found in the forest.
The fighter was not taken so she taken back to the forest and left. They would have found it by accident, maybe even the cliche of falling though what they thought was solid ground. This knocks both children unconscious and then they are separated.
Would that reasoning be acceptable for your game? And would this feat be worth it to take?
A question about the mythic stuff. I like the recruits idea but I want them to be mythic so which paths and feats would be best suited for that?
Do you wave to roll for our age, or can we just pick? As long as its at least the minimum you're asking for?
Also, I finally got the PDF of First World. Just skimmed it, but its very, very cool. I definitely plan on taking the Feysworn PrC(I'll provide you with the info), but it won't be until I level in game. I want 2nd level Ranger spells.
That's actually something I need to get myself, so ... :)
I was thinking of either the Stronghold or the Unforgotten story feats.
Stronghold fits cause Myrza has the people and this expedition can easily be seen as an opportunity to bring a little bit of safety and stability to the region. Oh wait, she is already thinking about opportunity that anyway. :)
Unforgotten fits because she did have family in the Golushkin mountains, before all of them disappeared. I don't know if that will come into play in the campaign or not, but strange disappearances usually do eventually.
'Spending currency' does not equal 'gems'. 'Spending currency' equals coinage, which has an established value; if you have gems (precious stones of any type), you have to either take a chance that the guy to whom you're trying to sell or barter it either accepts the value you're claiming it to be (unlikely), appraises it at or near the value you paid for it (possible), undervalues it (possible), or simply doesn't accept it (most likely). I would recommend either shaving them down to the 25 gp via more food or such, or - considering I think you probably donated a fair amount of cash from your primary PC - just trim off the balance, add it your PC, and there you go.
Background ... interesting. You are, I want to point out, loading a lot of complexity into the background, which is not a benefit. KISS is the key element you want to work with. Start with 'nobleman's bastard son', grew up a street rat, became a watchman (because in a medieval city, there's no such thing as a fire brigade, though the night watchmen are primarily FIRE watchmen - but in a wood ctiy, EVERYONE close to the fire pitches in). Add on 'had a knack for diplomacy, but traveled to Restov and learned the sword.' Leave the 'minor ambassador' stuff out of it, because it's killing the KISS aspect. Like this:
"... and even managed to talk down some of the city’s most worst criminals into betraying their organizations for a payout." (Not 'most worst'; just 'worst'.) All right, so you're a swordsman with a knack for Diplomacy. So what? Even if you have an in with the guards (which I'll give you) and a childhood background with the street rats (also quite likely), you are not a vigilante, an investigator, or that sort of thing; please allow other classes to have their places, and allow yourself to NOT do seven impossible things before breakfast each day. Remember too that 'betraying their organization for a payout' results in the usual organizational penalty - a shallow, unmarked grave a mile or two outside the city, or 'sleeping with the fishes', or something of the sort. Flipping someone happens, but it isn't usually very successful in the long term.
From your writing about your followers, looks like you want Anton to be a full-fledged Swordlord; that is, I'll concede, marginally possible, as having at least decent levels in the four social skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive) is half the battle there; the other half is having a top-notch weapon hand, which while you have a superb (+16/+11) basic skill with the sword, you are missing the depth of knowledge (i.e. more than just 1 level in the swordlord PrC and/or the swordlord feats) that marks a true swordlord of the Aldori schools. So I can see you as being a Master of a 'feeder' school, but not one of the fifty various Northern or Southern schools, much less the Masters of the Aldori School itself. You might be a Swordlord by courtesy, but you won't be a significant political force, if only because your technique with the sword (i.e. your 'Aldori sword school' feats) is lacking. You'll have a steady stream of students passing through your classes, coming in, learning the basics, then going on to other schools when you couldn't teach them more advanced techniques.
And so I have something of a problem with this: "Years of study both public and private have allowed him to master many of the Swordlord’s most difficult techniques..." Not true. There are at least a half-dozen of difficult techniques that Anton hasn't learned - most of them, in fact. He may have learned arrow-cutting (even bullet-cutting), but no matter his contempt for the Northern (Roaring Falls) and Southern (Shrouded Lake) schools, this is still a far cry from mastering 'many' of their most difficult techniques. Anton's sheet has him as being both skilled and versatile but, no offense, he is not an esoteric - yet. In part this is because you didn't go with the Swordlord archetype, but you got the advanced weapon training that boosted that Bluff and Diplomacy, so fair trade - but this and the 'diplomat' stuff will both marks Anton as a 'fringe' player.
So this can work, I suppose, if Anton is something of a dilettante, spending a few months here, then going to Mivon to bang around there for a bit, or returning to New Stetven to dabble in some politicking and diplomacy, whatever. If you go with this, though, you still won't be talking any city's worst criminals into taking a payoff to rat out their bosom buddies, and you won't be considered having mastered many of the Swordlord's most difficult techniques.
Think about it.
As an aside - your skill point balance is a wee bit off - 2 points high on your background skills, one point low on your standard skills. Balance this out by moving 1 point from standard to background skills, then removing 1 rank from Linguistics (which additional language you didn't acquire anyhow). Also, to get that third trait, Anton needs to take a drawback.
About Orvin:
Consider these two sequences, and say which one seems more likely:
Art forger -> magic item forger -> elven magic -> art smuggler.
Art smuggler -> art forger -> elven magic -> magic item forger.
IMO, the second is far, FAR more likely. As well, no criminal organization worth its tough name is going to get pissed off at someone keeping themselves away from robbery or banditry; every criminal organization needs its stable of 'artists', as well as fences, snitches, and the rest.
What WOULD twist their ear is Orvin (stupidly) betraying them to the guard; cudgels would be involved only so as to not leave a blood trail from the point they picked him up to the point they finalized him. It does, however, hang together, especially if Anton managed to pay a visit to the local thuglord and bargain for his brother's life - a certain amount of money for 'he gets gone and he stays gone, or he'll be gone; you tell him he's lost his Restov privileges.'
Something like that, y'know?
A quick glance at your stuff, and one question, one comment. Question - what are the *s on some of the items indicating? Comment - Scaling items, when purchased at a level above which they are set to be active (e.g. their base CL, which for Ring of the Trickster is 4), have a higher price than at their base. The RotT's price as a level 7 character is 3,525 gp, not the 1,080gp it was for purchase at L4. (Sorry.)
Thunderbeard -
Yeah, what Aramil said. Seperated that out a bit better, now.
Zayne -
To be honest, 30 would be fine too; heck, even at the worst movement expected (half speed), Oleg's Trading Post is 8 hexes x 12 = 96 miles. 20' movement is 16 miles daily; reduced by half (for bad weather / conditions) is 8 miles/day, or 12 days to Oleg's, with a stop at Nivakta's Crossing after 3 days (allowing resupply), and possibly at Fort Serenko another 3 days later if you have to take shelter for a time.
DeviousDevious -
No, a sapling treant plant companion will not bother people in public places the same way as a wolf or roc companion does.
It'll freak them out far, far more.
In the experience of most people, plants do not (and should not) move; to see a plant (of all of the types available, you picked the one I think would be the only one I'd approve - maaaaybe the vine) ambling about behind you is something Very Very Against The Laws Of Nature. Oh, there'll be a few people (there always are) who'll be fascinated by the strange 8-16' tall mobile plant moving along with you, but remember that this thing is not an intelligent thing; it's basically an elephant with neither realization nor care about the things it walks past (or through) in order to reach what it feels is necessary for it to reach.
Truth is, it probably would not be allowed inside the city, unless you proved definitively that you could keep it under strict control. Even if you granted the Ability Score Increase at 4th level to its Intelligence (functionally making it sentient, and while I think by RAW unable to be a plant companion, I'd waive that because ROC, aka 'rule of cool'), you're still dealing with, well ...
... Groot. But not smart-Groot which, though it has an ultra-high intellect, it cannot communicate; instead you'd have the 'wrecks things to retrieve what Master has pointed towards'.
Now, though this maybe sounds harsh (and, well, maybe it is), understand that I really do like the idea, and I want you to take it, and presuming I a) like everythign else and b) select you, I not only have a way of letting you keep it 'under control', but a way/methodology/excuse to not seperate you. (Or that roc, in fact, whomever has it.) So don't take the above as being 'this is a bad idea', but instead a 'this is a seriously cool idea, but you and I both know that Treebeard is not an Ent that likes cities.'
As for what a plant companion consumes, well - earth and water. (The link is to the Persian envoy scene from the movie '300'.) What it means, though, is that several times a day (i.e. 3), the thing will need to take some time (30m or so) to settle into place, sink roots, and take some time 'refreshing' itself. It'll likely do the same at night when it sleeps, of course, and for all intents and purposes it obeys the crunch of an animal (needing to wake up, PER penalties for 'being asleep', that sort of thing) without obeying the fluff of one.
For these purposes ... hmmm. It IS a Large creature ... hah, with a 25 STR, 'light' load up to 532 lbs. All right, let's call it a horse for the feed side. You'll be spending gold (okay, 4cp/10 lbs/day) on 'small' portions of mineral-enhanced earths 'brought with you at great expense' from a rich forest area or fertile farmland, but outside of the winter months, you wouldn't need to do that unless you were going into areas that would not be good for it - swamps, deserts, mountains, tundra/ice-wastes, and underground, basically. Deserts and tundra/ice-wastes won't be a problem (except for, you know, winter); underground events will probably be few and far between. The only real issues would be actual rocky mountain terrain where the sapling treant is the tallest plant around, and swamps, where there's just too much muck and water for it to 'live healthily' in the soil for longer than a few days.
During winter, i.e. now, you'll need to bare the soil (and, if you want to and/or can do so, warm it somewhat) to its roots. It won't do much for it, but if you melt some snow for its water just like everyone else will be melting snow for the horses, and give it some of that 'feed soil', you'll be fine.
As an aside - if you want it to carry stuff (I imagine you will) it's going to need straps, bands, etc. Use the exotic pack saddle (15gp) for this purpose.
Death's Adorable Apprentice -
Truth Seeker is fine for the fighter; until/unless I select you, please leave the exact details of the 'encounter at Castle Keep' even more vague than that, to the point of 'while playing one day they fell into what they thought was a disused well, but turned out to be an underground maze.' She doesn't remember the details of being taken, and he may well have been unconscious/distracted. The feat ... will be worth it, in a very crazy nasty roundabout manner.
Regarding the recruits thing - the only way you'd be able to acquire some version or another of Recruits would be for you to request an upgrade from Leadership (std) to Disciples (Mythic Path). Depending on your characterization and play up to the point at which you can start taking these Mythic Feats and Path Abilities (which I think I'm going to set at 3 across the board), I would probably permit this at whatever point you went up in level - since your cohort would become a disciple, at L-3 instead of L-2, and it'd just be easier to keep him at the same level.
I am not certain if I would permit you to gain another feat in exchange for Leadership, however.
Ariael -
Elf Ranger 7 - 110 + 6d6, +36d6 months.
- Minimum: 116 + (36/12) = 119 years old.
- Average: Starting age 110 + (3x7) = 110 + 21 = 131; 36d6 average is 18x7, 126 months, or another 10.5 years, for a total of 141 years, 6 months, still over 30 years away from Middle Age. ;)
- Maximum: 146 + (216/12) = 164 years old, 11 years away from Middle Age.
I would prefer a minimum average of 2 on those dice, so call it a starting age of 110 + 12 = 122 + (36 x 2 = 72/12 = 6) = minimum 128 years old or thereabouts. Or a roll ...
143 years, 6 months. :P :)
Myrza -
Stronghold is NOT bringing 'a little bit of safety and stability to the region'; it's building, supplying, and staffing a fortification with your followers, establishing a hardpoint on a frontier, or against potential invaders - basically becoming an in-place military leader. If that idea somehow fits your 'weird dwarf magician' thing, all right; your purported 'trained them to work together as a team' bit does suggest that.
The Unforgotten Story Feat ... is not something I recommend, but feel free.
=======================================================
Everyone -
A few things that I've notice or which have come up.
First, while you should consider basic short- to mid-term self-sufficiency (ability to feed yourself for a month without resupply, make repairs on your gear, make new items out of raw materiels), you should not be wasting your monies or your followers on settlers. While your followers are your support staff, there are literally a thousand other people that will be moving behind you to do the farming, and the major building, and the 'commoner' work. You aren't going into this to get forty acres and a log cabin (or at least not JUST to get 40 acres and a log cabin), settle down, and pop out a dozen sprogs; you're going into this with your sword loose in its scabbard, your head up, eyes and ears alert, in order to explore, find out what the dangers are, and make the area not-dangerous-any-more, so that the farmers et. al. can go about the business of getting their 40-and-a-cabin up and a going concern, without having some darn landlord looming over them, or some nasty noble who takes 60% of their crops because he rules the area.
You are not settlers; you're troubleshooters.
Don't buy seeds to settle; buy arrows to shoot.
Second, scaling items scale. If you are looking at one such, understand that you need to pay whatever the price at 7th level (or 5th, for a cohort) happens to be, and it may be relatively expensive. A Wonder will take up your top slot, while a Prize will take up second slot. (A Bauble will fall in under the 'any magic item' limit, I'm pretty sure, for both PCs and Cohorts.)
Third, 'spending currency' does not equal 'gems', or any other trade item, such as the spices or trade bars I listed. 'Spending currency' equals coinage, which has an established value; if you have gems (precious stones of any type) or trade goods, you have to either take a chance that the guy to whom you're trying to sell or barter it either accepts the value you're claiming it to be (unlikely), appraises it at or near the value you paid for it (possible), undervalues it (possible), or simply doesn't accept it (most likely).
Fourth, 'Character Age'. The roll seemed to me to be a good benchmark for about how long it might take your character (with the race they have) to gain each level; like I said for Ariael above, however, so long as you have a minimum average of 2 on the dice, I'll be willing to accept that. It's just that I don't want what I ran into in a Shadowrun game several years back - not one, but two characters who were superduper experts at age (I sh!t you not) 15. The dice suggestion gives some amount of realism, some 'weight of years' behind your character.
Fifth, Leadership bonuses. Yes, you get a +2 bonus to your leadership for Great Renown, and for Fairness and Generosity. The latter means you treat your followers well, pay attention to their needs, wants, ambitions, and opinions; you treat them like people, and not like cardboard cutouts, disposable minions, or servants, but it doesn't mean you have to be giving them each 100gp a month just to tag along behind you. Similarly, 'Great Renown' does not automatically mean you are fantabulous in your chosen area (or even outside of your chosen area); it means that maybe you've got a song or two sung about you, or people gossip about you in a particular large town, or you've spent the right amount of money to the right people to get into the right parties and shake Sinatra's hand. (In truth, while nobody should probably have that until L10-12, it was in the original game and I decided to keep it so that y'all could have more than five or six L1 followers.)
Sixth and Final, a little quirk of mine:
Upgrading Feats
Generally if there is a feat or ability at a 'higher level' than what you've currently got, I allow players to take that higher-level ability as an upgrade to the lower-level one, then gain a new lower-level ability. As an example, if your Rogue has the Esoteric Scholar (Ex) Rogue Talent (1/day can attempt a KS check even when untrained), or if your character has the Dilettante feat, and later on she grabs the Trickster Path Ability Master Dilettante, she can use it as an upgrade to either the Talent or the Feat (whichever she has) and replace the talent/feat with a new one.
I have not yet decided whether or not to allow this to be done with the free Leadership feat; I will probably have lots of time to decide one way or the other. ;)
On scaling items: I thought you mentioned earlier on that you'd prefer to price them as the level they gain their "current" abilities, then have characters pay to upgrade them, rather than making them scale? Ring of the Trickster is something I picked up because it's the only magical laundry-machine item out there for a fashion-concerned adventurer, but I can always look into just having a bard follow me around and cast Prestidigitation.
I'll let you know when I have a background/character v2.0, then. I think one of my main assumptions was regarding the power level of the campaign; in some games, level 7 characters are expected to be seasoned and storied heroes with nearly-superhuman training, and I guess that's not quite the case here.
1. Eh, I write too much. Wasn't trying to be complex, just overwrote the segues I guess.
2. I've never been a fan of the "each class has a role" philosophy; but I can definitely tailor it more to "knack with diplomacy" than "knack with persuading everyone to everything." I thought Conciliator made sense as a story feat, and then was trying to explain how I wound up with such absurd diplomacy skills.
3. Ah, got it. I guess he's on the road to *studying* more of the difficult techniques. I assumed from the background stuff you posted that the Northern/Southern schools focus on fancy feats while the old, original Aldori school does mostly just "get really good at hitting things and blocking things with a sword, a la original Baron Aldori." He's actually got about as many "classic Swordlord" feats as you can pull off at level 7, since things like Quick Draw, Finesse, and Dazzling Display are all part of the progression, but I guess Swordlords just tend to train to much higher levels over their careers.
4. Since the Aldori college teaches a wide range of tactics and "classical war knowledge," would it make more sense to be a general academy student with enough sword skills and connections to be on good terms with a few swordlords, enough to represent the city's diplomatic interests as an envoy if not any kind of decision-maker? I.E. he'd never be respected for his sword skills in Restov, but maybe he could pull it off a bit in Stetven. (Flavor text from the Swordlord PrC suggests to me that if you have even one level, you're part of the organization, though maybe on the ground level. And since he's about to leave the country for a long time he can always "represent" himself as a swordlord when he travels through his clothing and servants, even if it's a bit of an exaggeration on his training)
5. I'll run through skills again; I did a lot of this in parts, so I missed some of that (and drawback I guess, I've got a list of like five drawbacks but need to pick one). Asterisks indicate that I copied items from somewhere else on the sheet where the asterisk is explained, oops.
6. Missed the point that New Stetven is famous for its well-trained *volunteer fire brigades. Watchman it is, then.
7. Still working on the cohort. Yeah, that was the progression I intended, except that on thinking about geography in this case the endpoint is probably "ancient Numerian/Kyonin artifact forgery." And yeah, Orvin's persona non grata, but he's also going to be starting out with a magical disguise, a hanging tent, a bit of paranoia and a few spells that should let him escape/hide in a hurry. (I didn't build for characters complimenting each other; I just tried to think of a good younger brother for my main PC to be disappointed in)
Upgrading Feats
Generally if there is a feat or ability at a 'higher level' than what you've currently got, I allow players to take that higher-level ability as an upgrade to the lower-level one, then gain a new lower-level ability. As an example, if your Rogue has the Esoteric Scholar (Ex) Rogue Talent (1/day can attempt a KS check even when untrained), or if your character has the Dilettante feat, and later on she grabs the Trickster Path Ability Master Dilettante, she can use it as an upgrade to either the Talent or the Feat (whichever she has) and replace the talent/feat with a new one.I have not yet decided whether or not to allow this to be done with the free Leadership feat; I will probably have lots of time to decide one way or the other. ;)
How would this work out, if it does at all, with feat chains such as Blind-Fight or Two-Weapon Fighting? Where the 'lower' feat may be improved upon by feats further in the chain, but also serves as a prerequisite for side branches? (Two-Weapon Fighting to Double Slice, for example.)
Oh I meant the recruits thing for the fighter, whom you requested be the current cohort. The Oracle is my primary and I promise they are almost done. I am just working though their gear. There is a lot to buy and organize.
People don't appreciate 16-foot-tall walking tree monsters meandering through their towns
...that is not-so-surprising when you think about it.
Thanks for the ruling-- seems fair to me.Carry Companion is my friend, it seems.RE: Sentience and Animal Intelligence, there's a good FAQ about it from Jason Bulmahn that clears up a lot of the common questions. Here's a link if you're so inclined.
First, while you should consider basic short- to mid-term self-sufficiency (ability to feed yourself for a month without resupply, make repairs on your gear, make new items out of raw materials), you should not be wasting your monies or your followers on settlers. While your followers are your support staff, there are literally a thousand other people that will be moving behind you to do the farming, and the major building, and the 'commoner' work. You aren't going into this to get forty acres and a log cabin (or at least not JUST to get 40 acres and a log cabin), settle down, and pop out a dozen sprogs; you're going into this with your sword loose in its scabbard, your head up, eyes and ears alert, in order to explore, find out what the dangers are, and make the area not-dangerous-any-more, so that the farmers et. al. can go about the business of getting their 40-and-a-cabin up and a going concern, without having some darn landlord looming over them, or some nasty noble who takes 60% of their crops because he rules the area.
You are not settlers; you're troubleshooters.
Don't buy seeds to settle; buy arrows to shoot.
I guess I don't really need seeds but the purpose of bring all this was to improve Lyda's chances of getting chosen. IC not OOC. She's coming well prepared with the tools necessary, not only to survive, but get a good start on settling in after the winter months. Even though her people can't utilize some of it, someone will. Its kind of like a bribe. Though now that I think about it, the settlers and commoners that follow will likely bring their own stuff. So I just need to load up on what my people can use and spare stuff for the main character.
Question: What will the followers actually do? Do we bring them when adventuring? Troubleshooting? Will they provide support somehow? Take care of low level menaces?
Upgrading Feats
Generally if there is a feat or ability at a 'higher level' than what you've currently got, I allow players to take that higher-level ability as an upgrade to the lower-level one, then gain a new lower-level ability. As an example, if your Rogue has the Esoteric Scholar (Ex) Rogue Talent (1/day can attempt a KS check even when untrained), or if your character has the Dilettante feat, and later on she grabs the Trickster Path Ability Master Dilettante, she can use it as an upgrade to either the Talent or the Feat (whichever she has) and replace the talent/feat with a new one.
Please tell me this applies to archery feats. I would like to be able to get Weapon focus or rapid shot. Or will this wait for selection and be case by case?
I submit Marlovaur Fellnight, follower of Dargaryen Blanc.
plus so almost 27. That works for me.
Ingrid Holt is my swordlord and other than the backstory she should be done and ready to be picked apart. I think my math is right.
And to get it out of the way. plus She will be almost 21. That is a bit of an age gap. Yay!
Stronghold is NOT bringing 'a little bit of safety and stability to the region'; it's building, supplying, and staffing a fortification with your followers, establishing a hardpoint on a frontier, or against potential invaders - basically becoming an in-place military leader. If that idea somehow fits your 'weird dwarf magician' thing, all right; your purported 'trained them to work together as a team' bit does suggest that.
The line of reasoning is thus, the expedition to settle the area has the potential to bring stability to the area. In order for that settling to work, especially as more than a single town, requires free and safe movement between the various fields, steadholdings, and population centers. Achieving this free and safe movement will require lots of guards and patrols, which will require training lots of new people, or giving a few people superior training. Further, the bandits and such of the area will likely fight to maintain their "hunting grounds" and lifestyle, and as a group of guards, her group will likely be a target, not the primary target perhaps, but a target.
Building a stronghold gives a place to train her troops, plus others who want such training (like guards or militia for the towns.), but also a defensible position to meet the likely larger scale attacks by bandit groups that will seek to break the intrusion into the region.
Joining this venture is not just to wander around for a couple years killing who she is pointed at. It is a major commitment, the reward for which is an even bigger lifelong commitment. Myrza is smart enough to realize that, and to realize that if she wants to succeed, she needs to go all out in pursuit of it. What she offers, while not true battlefield soldiering, is still a profession and service set in handling conflict of the physical variety.
Scaling / ring of the laundromat
Sorry, no - was explaining how they're designed. You'd need to pay the 'Level 7' amount to get the whole scaling effect. Considering the use of the ring, however, you might just design a 'ring of mirror image (1/day, CL 4)' and work with that for now, and trade in / upgrade to the (much more expensive) ring of the trickster. I don't think it'd be too much additional hit on the money - and I think I mentioned that money ... will become less of an issue as things develop ... ? You wouldn't pick up at-will prestidigitation until L8 in any case, so there's some flexibility for you there.
Regarding L7s, you are seasoned and storied heroes - but not nearly-superhuman training. (You don't get that until at least 10th level. ;) )
2. I've never been a fan of the "each class has a role" philosophy; but I can definitely tailor it more to "knack with diplomacy" than "knack with persuading everyone to everything." I thought Conciliator made sense as a story feat, and then was trying to explain how I wound up with such absurd diplomacy skills.
Each class does have a role - or rather, each role can be gotten to by several different class routes, but the central role that you've chosen is not that of the respected diplomat; if it were, you would have made many, many different choices, including those of what class you were going to take. Anyone can be diplomatic in the right situations; some people can be diplomatic in most situations. But diplomacy doesn't do everything, and there are points past which honeyed words and the voice of an angel just aren't going to work - just like there are points at which Intimidation doesn't work.
With Conciliator, you have the knack of going 'wait wait wait!!' right as the fight's about to start, and people will actually stop to listen to you. Perhaps tailor your background more towards the 'momentary voice of reason' sort of thing, making you the person who stops the knife fight in the alley just before it gets underway, or persuades a barroom full of brawlers to 'keep things friendly'.
3. Ah, got it. I guess he's on the road to *studying* more of the difficult techniques. I assumed from the background stuff you posted that the Northern/Southern schools focus on fancy feats while the old, original Aldori school does mostly just "get really good at hitting things and blocking things with a sword, a la original Baron Aldori." He's actually got about as many "classic Swordlord" feats as you can pull off at level 7, since things like Quick Draw, Finesse, and Dazzling Display are all part of the progression, but I guess Swordlords just tend to train to much higher levels over their careers.
4. Since the Aldori college teaches a wide range of tactics and "classical war knowledge," would it make more sense to be a general academy student with enough sword skills and connections to be on good terms with a few swordlords, enough to represent the city's diplomatic interests as an envoy if not any kind of decision-maker? I.E. he'd never be respected for his sword skills in Restov, but maybe he could pull it off a bit in Stetven. (Flavor text from the Swordlord PrC suggests to me that if you have even one level, you're part of the organization, though maybe on the ground level. And since he's about to leave the country for a long time he can always "represent" himself as a swordlord when he travels through his clothing and servants, even if it's a bit of an exaggeration on his training)
QD, Finesse, and Dazzling Display is something that all the schools teach; one thing I'm finding, though, is that as I go through the books on Golarion, I'm finding the upper-echelon people being 12th-15th level. Anton being L1 in the PrC means pretty much what you're talking about - you are 'one of the clan', even if you're on the bottom rung.
If you will, please let me know where you found this information on the Aldori college.
5. I'll run through skills again; I did a lot of this in parts, so I missed some of that (and drawback I guess, I've got a list of like five drawbacks but need to pick one). Asterisks indicate that I copied items from somewhere else on the sheet where the asterisk is explained, oops.
Like I said, drop 1 point of Linguistics, and one point from general skills goes to background skills, and you're fixed.
6. Missed the point that New Stetven is famous for its well-trained *volunteer fire brigades. Watchman it is, then.
Uhhh ... who missed the point, you or me? I'm not aware of New Stetven being famous for well-trained volunteer (*?) fire brigades, but there's plenty of Pathfinder stuff that I haven't read. Let me know what I should be looking at for this information.
7. Still working on the cohort. Yeah, that was the progression I intended, except that on thinking about geography in this case the endpoint is probably "ancient Numerian/Kyonin artifact forgery." And yeah, Orvin's persona non grata, but he's also going to be starting out with a magical disguise, a hanging tent, a bit of paranoia and a few spells that should let him escape/hide in a hurry. (I didn't build for characters complimenting each other; I just tried to think of a good younger brother for my main PC to be disappointed in)
Well, 'ancient Numerian/Kyonin artifact forgery' would be a good 'next step' after the last item in the second sequence. But I do like where you're going with the build and the group concept. Like I said, I like what you're doing; well done.
Please tell me this applies to archery feats. I would like to be able to get Weapon focus or rapid shot. Or will this wait for selection and be case by case?Upgrading Feats
Generally if there is a feat or ability at a 'higher level' than what you've currently got, I allow players to take that higher-level ability as an upgrade to the lower-level one, then gain a new lower-level ability. As an example, if your Rogue has the Esoteric Scholar (Ex) Rogue Talent (1/day can attempt a KS check even when untrained), or if your character has the Dilettante feat, and later on she grabs the Trickster Path Ability Master Dilettante, she can use it as an upgrade to either the Talent or the Feat (whichever she has) and replace the talent/feat with a new one.
How would this work out, if it does at all, with feat chains such as Blind-Fight or Two-Weapon Fighting? Where the 'lower' feat may be improved upon by feats further in the chain, but also serves as a prerequisite for side branches? (Two-Weapon Fighting to Double Slice, for example.)
Reading these, it looks like the example I gave wasn't clear enough. I would need a specific example in order to adjudicate. The baseline rule, though, is that no rule exceptions are had. If you want to pick up some feat or another that you can't normally pick up, you still can't pick it up. If losing a specific feat would violate a feat chain (i.e. replacing Dodge guts all the 'move out of the way' feats that you've taken that have it as a prerequisite), then it doesn't replace it. (Most of those stack anyhow.)
1. You gain a feat, trait, or class ability selection.
2. That feat, trait, or class ability selection isn't required for other things.
3. You pick up something whose effect contains that of the original feat/trait/class ability.
4. You ask if your new selection can be an upgrade to the original feat, trait, or class ability.
5. Presuming I say yes, you can then select a new feat, tarit, or class ability as appropriate.
At all times, your character must be able to legally acquire all selections, whether individually or simultaneously. X cannot replace A if A is a prerequisite for B, or for X itself. Your character must be a valid character at every stage of the process.
Everyone savvy this, yet?
Oh I meant the recruits thing for the fighter, whom you requested be the current cohort. The Oracle is my primary and I promise they are almost done. I am just working though their gear. There is a lot to buy and organize.
If the Fighter has at least a 13 CHA, he can spend a feat to pick Recruits up now, and will gain an additional feat at L7. If/when the Oracle picks up Mythic Leadership, he will then eventually be able to pick up Mythic Cohorts - though I'll be adding 'nesting' rules across the board in order to not have a L20/T10 PC with a L20/T6 Cohort with a L20/T4 Cohort with a L20/T1 Cohort; my idea, in essence, is to make 'nesting' Mythic Leadership feats and abilities to have a -1 or -2 hit to the level of the cohort(s) each additional time. So then you'd have at best a L20/T10 PC with a L20/T6 Cohort with a L19/T3 Cohort and a L18/T1 Cohort, and possibly a L20/T10 PC with a L20/T6 Cohort and a L18/T2 Cohort. But you'd really have to be throwing a lot at the leadership thing in order to achieve this sort of chain.
I guess I don't really need seeds but the purpose of bring all this was to improve Lyda's chances of getting chosen. IC not OOC. She's coming well prepared with the tools necessary, not only to survive, but get a good start on settling in after the winter months. Even though her people can't utilize some of it, someone will. Its kind of like a bribe. Though now that I think about it, the settlers and commoners that follow will likely bring their own stuff. So I just need to load up on what my people can use and spare stuff for the main character.Double-check what the original message is calling for:
... a body of reputable and experienced explorers and adventurers of acceptable social standing, that they may be granted the honor of swearing fealty unto him, that they may become his vassals and liegemen ...
IN RETURN for their oath of temporal fealty ... they shall receive patents of nobility from His hand as appropriate to their labours and station ...
He isn't calling for farmers, laborers, craftsmen, and carters; he's calling for swordsmen, mages, rogues, and priests, literally and specifically for explorers and adventurers. So just as you said in the second half of that paragraph, 'load up on what your people can use'.
Question: What will the followers actually do? Do we bring them when adventuring? Troubleshooting? Will they provide support somehow? Take care of low level menaces?
No, you will not be bringing them adventuring. Followers, like in any campaign that allows them, become your base, your safety net, your support group. Depending on how you configure them, they might become your passive eyes and ears throughout the kingdom, the students ands staff at your collegium of magicks, the soldiers and craftsmen in your fortress of solitude, the pimps and pickpockets of your underworld criminal domain. They will do the majority of 'actual work' at building a town (or a portion of a town) for you; they're there to do all the lower-level work that you can't be bothered with.
Your character might shortly be able to make a +2 magical sword; your character's followers typically make nails and horseshoes.
And of course, presuming that some of them are semi-capable combat sorts (e.g. warriors, or adepts, or combative PC classes), they'll be able to fend off the odd attack from a party of kobolds or whatever. Probably not a determined assault, though ...
The line of reasoning is thus, the expedition to settle the area has the potential to bring stability to the area. In order for that settling to work ...
Let me be a bit more clear, particularly to you, because this is the second game of mine you've shown yourself to have completely different ideas (or maybe just difficulty in expressing those ideas) than what I've written to be appropriate for the campaign.
The impetus behind your character's Story feat needs to come from your character - not from the campaign. Create your character's technical selections and background as of two months before game start. If, two months ago, Myrza had the idea to build a fortified school for caravan guards, and then the announcement came and inspired her to apply to join, fine - that works, she wants to join so that she can claim a location to build her school. Wanting to build a fortified school for caravan guards so that she can join the expedition does not work, as 'joining the expedition' becomes the reason she wants to build a school, not the other way around.
At this point what I'd like you to do is to finish your character's technicals before continuing conversation on the thread; what I'm hearing from you is very confusing and appears very confused, and I'd like to be able to compare your character selections with what you've written as her background. Unless you have a specific question about something, please focus on building your character.
People don't appreciate 16-foot-tall walking tree monsters meandering through their towns...that is not-so-surprising when you think about it.
Thanks for the ruling-- seems fair to me.Carry Companion is my friend, it seems.RE: Sentience and Animal Intelligence, there's a good FAQ about it from Jason Bulmahn that clears up a lot of the common questions. Here's a link if you're so inclined.
Hmm. Good News / Bad News.
Good news: thanks for the link; while it actually answers no questions at all, it does bring some interesting thoughts. IMO (and thus GM's interpretation) adding a point of INT (or more!) to a nonsentient creature does not make them sentient, even when sentience is RAW defined as INT 3+. For all intents and purposes the guidance found here, at the bottom of the page under Intelligent Animals, is what I'm working with; unless you use the Awaken spell itself, they may be particularly or especially smart creatures/entities with INTs of 7, but they are not (yet) actually sentient. In an ordinary animal, that requires a step that you just aren't likely to be able to take during the life of one animal. So they're smart, even very smart, but they haven't achieved sentience, and you're probably not going to be able to hold philosophical discussions with them, even if the DO come to understand complex phrases and sentences in Common.
Bad News: IMO the Carry Companion spell is seriously, seriously broken. This is a 2nd level spell combining Flesh to Stone (a 6th-level spell) with Shrink Item (a 3rd-level spell). That it can only be cast on a willing, friendly, nonsentient subject is only barely short of immaterial; you might get a 1- or 2-level discount on it, which would make it a 4th-level spell at best. Add in the fact that as a side effect of this simple 2nd level spell you are able to carry thousands of pounds worth of goods which are shrunk (and lightened) as part of the figurine, and you arrive at the point of 'what were they smoking when they made this'.
"So what's that mean for the spell?" It means that while I will not deny you the use of the spell, I will state that it is the GM's decision that any use of this spell on a companion, animal, magical beast, or whatever is exceedingly unpleasant for the creature, and has repercussions when it comes to that creature's attitude towards the character. Upon release from this spell, the creature's attitude towards the character/caster will decrease by a number of ranks equal to the square root of the number of times you've used the spell on it* for a minimum period of time equal to one day per the number of times you've used the spell on it. The character must act to calm and re-befriend the companion during this time, at which point the creature's attitude towards the character improves; this must continue, with minimum time between ranks of (number of times the spell has been used on the creature) days, until the creature's attitude towards the character is once again Helpful. If the character does not act to improve the creature's attitude, it does not improve until the character acts for a number of sequential days as given.
Furthermore, use of this spell will in time be considered to be abusive towards the companion, endangering not only the companion's friendship with the character, but the ability of the character to continue to use that ability. (And no, the GM will not allow you to dismiss one companion and summon something different; the only time you can switch animal companions, familiars, eidolons, etc. is if they are slain.)
A little reference chart for you:
Helpful to ...
Friendly - after 1 use, for at least 1 day.
Indifferent - after 4 uses, for at least 4 days, then to Friendly for at least 4 days.
Unfriendly - after 9 uses, for at least 9 days, etc.
Hostile - after 16 uses. Creature has a chance of attacking the character immediately upon release, but otherwise will, if at all possible, flee forever the character's presence. Character also loses the class ability granting the companion until they have proven their worthiness to possess the ability and have then received an atonement for their abuse of their companion.
This is a spell to use in extremis, not as a matter of course.
Reading these, it looks like the example I gave wasn't clear enough. I would need a specific example in order to adjudicate. The baseline rule, though, is that no rule exceptions are had. If you want to pick up some feat or another that you can't normally pick up, you still can't pick it up. If losing a specific feat would violate a feat chain (i.e. replacing Dodge guts all the 'move out of the way' feats that you've taken that have it as a prerequisite), then it doesn't replace it. (Most of those stack anyhow.)
1. You gain a feat, trait, or class ability selection.
2. That feat, trait, or class ability selection isn't required for other things.
3. You pick up something whose effect contains that of the original feat/trait/class ability.
4. You ask if your new selection can be an upgrade to the original feat, trait, or class ability.
5. Presuming I say yes, you can then select a new feat, tarit, or class ability as appropriate.At all times, your character must be able to legally acquire all selections, whether individually or simultaneously. X cannot replace A if A is a prerequisite for B, or for X itself. Your character must be a valid character at every stage of the process.
Everyone savvy this, yet?
That's a lot clearer, thanks!
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Legacy (Auto-In)
ginganinja / Amavin Zephyra (Sorcerer (Stormborn) 7, Nemesis) and Ishana Tamana (Warpriest (Calistria) 5, Prophet)
JAF0 / Azrael the Avenger (Paladin (Ragathiel) 7) and Hareth (Paladin (divine hunter, Erastil) 2 / Monk (Unchained Zen Archer) 3)
Phntm888 / Aramil Wellys (Magus 7) and Porablum Flapzit (Bard 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor N
Legacy (Auto-In), Needs Completion
OmniChaos / Aolis Greenborn (Wizard (Spell Sage) 5 / Magaambya Arcanist 2 or Incanter 7 (Spheres of Power)), redoing cohort
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Please, please do me the favor of double-checking your characters for completion of revisions for this reboot. Let me know when you have. Please also post (here or in the recruitment tracking sheet) your preference for the Prestige/Fame and Honor system use. OmniChaos, I really need your cohort.
And why are only two of you RPing?? ;)
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Fully Completed Characters
Sam C. / Theodric Valtrava (Fighter (Two-Weapon Warrior) 7) and
Darvan Singra (Paladin (Iroran Paladin) 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor Y
Characters Building
william Nightmoon (Legacy-Advantaged)/ Draconillias (Bard (Street Performer) 7) and Ginks Gibbles (Alchemist (trap breaker) 5)
Daedalus the Dungeon Builder / Darivan Orlovsky (Magus (Bladebound) 7) and Sylvia Calrian (Wizard (Conjurer) 5)
Paranoid Oldman / 'Old Man' Sisyphus (Fighter (Pack Mule) 7) and Kat 'The Wiles' Carpenter (Ranger 5)
Jereru / Tomáš Dušek (Fighter (Weapon Master, Aldori Dueling Sword) 7) and Father László (Cleric (Herald Caller) 5)
thunderbeard / Anton Rabinoff (Fighter 6, Aldori Swordlord 1) and Orvin Rabinoff (Rogue 1, Sorcerer (Sageblood) 4)
Rostam / Bartek Yaroslav (Sorcerer (Feyblood) 7) and NFN Yaroslav (Cavalier (Gendarme) 5)
wehrpig / Darg Blanc (Fighter (Aldor Swordlord) 7) and Marlovaur Fellnight (cavalier (strategist) 4/cleric (crusader, Erastil) 1)
derpdidruid / William Lawsrick (Samurai (Order of the Flame, Western) 7) and Winnie Lawsrick (Alchemist 5)
DeviousDevious / Acaciano (Druid (Treesinger) 7) and Tai
dwilhelmi / Kyras Medvyed (Inquisitor (Monster Tactician, Erastil) 7)
Pendrak / Yuri Magrar (Wizard 7) and Tarna Magrar
Zayne Iwatani / Lyda (Hunter 7) and Deneb Flynvias (Druid 5)
Monkeygod / Ariael Lafali (Ranger 7)
TheAlicornSage / Myrza Frosteye and Nyx
Deaths Adorable Apprentice / Emma and Ingrid Holt (Fighter (Swordlord) 5)
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Yes, this is a little messed up. Please sing out to let me know if your characters - both of them - have been completed. Starting this evening (Saturday the 10th) I will be skimming backgrounds and character sheets, and putting up observations, but I'm only going to do this on characters that have been stated after this post to be ready for review. If you are not adding to the Recruitment Tracking Sheet, then as part of your 'complete!' post below this vote on a) whether to use the Prestige and Fame systems, and b) whether to use the character Honor systems. (A lot of people apparently want to use the Honor systems, but a lot of those haven't commented on the Prestige/Fame systems. And Jereru, I have no idea what 'dk/da' means.)
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Expressed Interest, No Character As Of Yet
Ashe
drbuzzard
Derz
Aest
Raltus
Loup Blanc
Terevalis Unctio
TheWaskally
Grovestrider
That Sean fellow
Gobo Horde
Harakhty Suntooth
oyzar
"The Lucky Halfling"
Serill Elamaer
gyrfalcon
Fury of the Tempest
Belltrap (?) Sword Devil Woman whatever. Never sent info.
F. Castor (withdrawn)
Mark Thomas 66 (passed/withdrawn)
adsapiens / Timm Tones (trashed/withdrawn)
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8 days left to post a character. Remember - the sooner you get one completed and posted, the better your chance at getting a review that'd allow you to adjust your character!!
Theodric and Darvan are both ready to be looked over!
Although this looks like an awesome story waiting to be told, alas, I find I do not have the time to make proper characters for it. Thus I shall be withdrawing my interest to be a part of it, though not my interest to follow it as it unfolds.
With Conciliator, you have the knack of going 'wait wait wait!!' right as the fight's about to start, and people will actually stop to listen to you. Perhaps tailor your background more towards the 'momentary voice of reason' sort of thing.
This is actually a very good idea! How does a swordlord with only basic training pass himself off as a more talented and respected swordsman? Maybe by talking bravos and senior duelists out of actually fighting him every time he gets challenged unprepared to a duel... (and a man who can convince other swordlords not to draw swords every time they get upset in conversation might be a useful "diplomat" for rich folks to invite to their parties)
Uhhh ... who missed the point, you or me? I'm not aware of New Stetven being famous for well-trained volunteer (*?) fire brigades
I did, but I may have been extrapolating a bit from memory. Pathfinder Wiki (sourced from Brevoy campaign setting book) says: "Due to the prodigious number of wooden structures within its walls, the city boasts several volunteer fire brigades that protect its buildings—citizens mostly join these brigades out of a sense of civic pride." Since it doesn't mention many other things about New Stetven, I assume that's something it's known for; but this isn't really an important background point, and night watchman makes more sense.
If you will, please let me know where you found this information on the Aldori college.
Whoops, I extrapolated that too (could've *sworn* I saw something somewhere that was more detailed. Actual wiki article just says "widely considered to be northeastern Avistan's premier war college." I assumed "war college" means what it does today, with students studying famous historical battles etc. but it turns out there's no actual renaissance-era concept of a "war college," and this could be all sorts of things.
DK/DA = Doesn't Know/Doesn't Answer. Basically this is the first time I even hear about Honour, Prestige and Fame, so I don't think I can say anything about them.
If you really want a vote, then let's say yes, if only to try them.
Oh, and... I think my characters are finished. Unless I forgot something, of course, but if I did then I wouldn't notice or else it wouldn't be called "forgetting", right?
About age, well, I didn't really think about giving an exact age but, if it's needed, I'll roll under your rules, of course.
Sorry for the delay, I've been dealing with some stuff on my side and putting further thought into what I would like to play for this campaign.
At this point in time, I've chosen to move away from my initial concept of the wizard and cleric who venerated Abadar. I've been inspired by the information you posted awhile back in regards to our future king, Chalm Kowalskiy.
With the previous thought in mind, I am envisioning a Daring Champion (Cavalier) that has served under Lord Commander Chalm in the past. Inspired by the man's actions and tenents, he has chosen to see if King Noleski Surtova will allow him, those willing of his troops, and their families to accompany the Lord Commander into those southern lands known as "The Stolen Lands".
This character, and his troops, are known for their support of the Lord Commander and their shared worship of "The Dawnflower" and "The Inheritor".
His cohort would be a Dawnflower Dervish (Bard) / Herald Squire (Cavalier) who would progress into the Battle Herald prestige class.
Would this concept work within the world that you are envisioning, Two?
Darg Blanc and Marlovaur Fellnight are ready for review.
I have wrapped up Yuri and Tarna Magrar, dwarf wizard and cleric of Torag. I still need to actually stat out my followers, and I may expand the backstories for my cohort and squire, but the vast majority of my work on character creation is finished and I believe they are ready for review.
All the important parts are done. Just need to flesh out the followers.
All the character building choices for Myrza should be under the first spoiler in her profile.
Working on Nyx and the others as well as equipment still.
Rather odd trying to do the mechanics without knowing what the story feat will be yet. I hope the story for the feat won't mess up mechanics too much.
You choose your own story feat for both characters.
Deaths Adorable Apprentice here. This is my swordlord. I still have some gold to spend and part of that will probably go to the group gold, which I am still working on. But I have a backstory up as well as a personality. If there is anything you want me to embellish on or something that does not seem like it flows please let me know.
Should I have the time after I get the Oracle and followers done I will add a few scenes to the background. Those take a little longer do but they tend to give a good view of the character. Emma's background will be basically the same story but from her point of view, obviously. I need to get the followers a little more hammered out so I can include them in the background.
Mechanically her focus in skills will be bluff, diplomacy, history, perception, sense motive,and stealth. With the mythic stuff I want to take the Guardian path and I really love the legendary items path ability so that will be happening, most likely with her dueling sword. In combat she is going to lean towards disarming and tripping her foes instead of just killing them. Not that she wont kill people if need be but murder is not her first choice.
Hopefully you like her :D
@Draco: You don't actually list your character's stats anywhere. (You've got all the stuff needed to *construct* a character, but it's all in very hard to parse lists, and you never just write out your saves, AC, common attacks, skill bonuses, etc)
You choose your own story feat for both characters.
Except I've been getting nothing but trouble from them. TWO suggested I focus on mechanics for now.
I think part of the problem is that story feats are just not compatible with how I build characters. In making a character, for me mechanics come last as they are nothing but an approximate representation of the character and nothing else (which seems to be the oposite of popular style). Story feats seem to try to prepackage fluff and mechanics and so finding a piece that fits with the character is difficult because the fluff bits are so limited and directed. More, they force me to deal with mechanics before the character concept is complete, because trying to stuff one on top of an existing character requires rebuilding the concept. If I had known what they were beforehand, I'd probably have started with them, though given how much I'm not liking them, I'm honestly not sure if any game is worth the trouble of dealing with them. In my opinion, mechanics should be generally representative and not explicitly tied to a set narrative, without needing to rework it, so a player can just say "this is who my character is and what she does" and the gm can just go "this is how we will represent that and handle that." Story feats very much work against that premise.
@Alicorn: What? Using story feats never makes building a character *harder*. Just pick a story feat whose name and description matches your character's story. Most of them have very minor mechanical effects (there's few story feats that make sense putting in any build for that reason), so unless you're trying to min-max, just think of it as a fun and unexpected bonus you might get someday if you complete one of the goals you already listed for your character.
If you really don't want to pick them yourself, you can ask other players to suggest story feats as well based on a listed background.
(For instance: I said "okay, my character does dueling and diplomacy. Do I want the story feat about challenging foes to duel, or the one about talking them out of it?" made a decision and then I had a story feat. For my cohort, an aspiring artist, I picked the "I make art" story feat. It doesn't matter what they actually do, because it's something my character won't be benefiting from most days)
@thunderbeard
Story feats are motivations. They are goals of your character. Problem, I certainly didn't see any that described what goals I already had, nor did I see any that fit well with the existing concept. It isn't like story feats cover a significant number of possible motivations.
I treat character concept like everyone else treats mechanical builds, not lightly. After all, I'm not here to play the mechanics, I'm here to play the character.
Story feats are heavily tied to major chunks of character fluff.
Semi-randomly adding a major chunk of fluff
is to character concept
as semi-randomly adding a level or two of a new class
is to mechanical build.
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Accepted Characters
ginganinja / Amavin Zephyra (Sorcerer (Stormborn) 7, Nemesis) and Ishana Tamanna (Warpriest (Calistria) 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
JAF0 / Azrael the Avenger (Paladin (Ragathiel) 7) and Hareth (Paladin (divine hunter, Erastil) 2 / Monk (Unchained Zen Archer) 3); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
OmniChaos / Aolis Greenborn (Incanter 7 (Spheres of Power)) and Nakir Lalish (Fey Adept 5 (Spheres of Power)); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Phntm888 / Aramil Wellys (Magus 7) and Porablum Flapzit (Bard 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor N
Reviewed Characters
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Yeah, I know, gotta get reviewing. ;)
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Characters Ready for Review
william Nightmoon (Legacy-Advantaged)/ Draconillias (Bard (Street Performer) 7) and Ginks Gibbles (Alchemist (trap breaker) 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Sam C. / Theodric Valtrava (Fighter (Two-Weapon Warrior) 7) and Darvan Singra (Paladin (Iroran Paladin) 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor Y
Jereru / Tomá Duek (Fighter (Weapon Master, Aldori Dueling Sword) 7) and Father László (Cleric (Herald Caller) 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor Y
Zayne Iwatani / Lyda (Hunter 7) and Deneb Flynvias (Druid 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor Y
wehrpig / Darg Blanc (Fighter (Aldor Swordlord) 7) and Marlovaur Fellnight (Cavalier (strategist) 4/Cleric (crusader, Erastil) 1); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Pendrak / Yuri Magrar (Wizard 7) and Tarna Magrar (Cleric (Torag) 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor Y
Characters in the Process of Building
Daedalus the Dungeon Builder / Darivan Orlovsky (Magus (Bladebound) 7) and Sylvia Calrian (Wizard (Conjurer) 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor Y
Paranoid Oldman / 'Old Man' Sisyphus (Fighter (Pack Mule) 7) and Kat 'The Wiles' Carpenter (Ranger 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor Y
thunderbeard / Anton Rabinoff (Fighter 6, Aldori Swordlord 1) and Orvin Rabinoff (Rogue 1, Sorcerer (Sageblood) 4); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Rostam / Bartek Yaroslav (Sorcerer (Feyblood) 7) and NFN Yaroslav (Cavalier (Gendarme) 5); Prestige/Fame N, Honor N
derpdidruid / William Lawsrick (Samurai (Order of the Flame, Western) 7) and Winnie Lawsrick (Alchemist 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor Y
DeviousDevious / Acaciano (Druid (Treesinger) 7) and Tai; Prestige/Fame N, Honor Y
dwilhelmi / Kyras Medvyed (Inquisitor (Monster Tactician, Erastil) 7) and ?? Medvyed; Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Monkeygod / Ariael Lafali (Ranger 7); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
TheAlicornSage / Myrza Frosteye and Nyx; Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Deaths Adorable Apprentice / Emma and Ingrid Holt (Fighter (Swordlord) 5); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
"The Lucky Halfling" / Cavalier (Daring Champion) and Bard (Dawnflower Dervish) / Cavalier (Herald Squire); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
LetcherMan69 / Magus (Eldritch Scion); Prestige/Fame --, Honor --
Kain Gallant / Kaellin Greenleaf (Ranger 7) and Sylvara Amalur (Bard 5); Prestige/Fame Y, Honor Y
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Kain - sorry I missed you on previous go-rounds. Thanks for putting yourself on the sheet. ;)
From the look of it, both Prestige/Fame and Honor systems will be in use. I'll make a post (or make part of a post) about both of these in a little bit.
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Expressed Interest
Ashe
drbuzzard
Derz
Aest
Raltus
Loup Blanc
Terevalis Unctio
TheWaskally
Grovestrider
That Sean fellow
Gobo Horde
Harakhty Suntooth
oyzar
Serill Elamaer
gyrfalcon
Fury of the Tempest
Belltrap (?) Sword Devil Woman whatever. Never sent info.
F. Castor (withdrawn)
Mark Thomas 66 (passed/withdrawn)
adsapiens / Timm Tones (trashed/withdrawn)
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So I am almost done with this build, but life stuff came up and I am not going to be able to devote the kind of time that this is going to need. Oldman is out :(
Gotta say, I'm loving the one-million-fighters-and-one-rogue dynamic. Will maybe kick up Orvin's lock picking a bit as I finish him up.
EDIT: When you say max HD for game start, is that at level 1, or up to level 7?
"Darivan Orlovsky, reporting for duty, mister Chalm Surtova, sir!"